for my pocket
instead of all the tissues
I have shredded
then needed.
The smoothness of it
warms to my touch.
This will carry me through.
It gives me the confidence
to hold my head high
in an unknown city,
helps me remember
to breathe steadily.
The connection to you
across the miles:
I will hold you safe in my heart
and you can hold this heart to remind you.
Day one, my tissues remain intact
to be used without inhaling
paper dust.
On the second day I find myself
just enjoying knowing it is there
without even touching it.
Letting it work by itself.
That night I discover it has gone.
While folding my clothes
in the hotel room
I reach into the pocket to find it,
but it eludes me.
It isn’t on the floor
or in the hallway.
It isn’t where I sat for dinner
and has not been handed in.
The next day it is not on the route I used.
I scan all the edges and the gutters
to check.
Someone else must have it now.
Must have been amazed to see it
when they looked down.
I wonder how many people’s pockets
will hold that heart.
---
Sue Finch’s debut collection, ‘Magnifying Glass’, was published in 2020. Her work has also appeared in a number of online magazines. She lives with her wife in North Wales. She loves the coast, peculiar things and the scent of ice-cream freezers. You can often find her on Twitter @soopoftheday.
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