On our way upstate last night
we are here for a memorial for Harriet Clifton
mother of Dan Clifton our close friend
for a million years Harriet and I celebrated
birthdays together both in August we shared
a blue necklace she liked it but said it would
take up too much room in her drawer
it’s a big blue necklace I’ll wear it today
we bought it together for a dollar at a yard sale
on our way upstate we ate at a Japanese restaurant
Toto Sushi in the Big Lots shopping mall
I love the Big Lots logo
and Big Lots itself full of halloween candy now
Bruce bought three bags of snacks
Elizabeth ordered in the Japanese restaurant
one waitress for all of us we had rolls
with elegant names Bruce got a Bento box
and all night I thought about Harriet Clifton
who enjoyed so many small things in life
like Big Lots and our blue necklace.
I don't know if it is the same Big Lots, but when I was growing up, my mother was fond of shopping at a store with that name in Peekskill, NY. I spent many a miserable hour ib the family's Dodge wagon, either too hot or too cold, doing my best to get my siblings to behave.