Unattended Luggage

• Unattended Luggage

Unattended Luggage

Small bag, you're an island in a vast sea of people,
They flow all around you in widening circles;
Your belly, concealed beneath zippers and stitching,
The crowd is itching and watching and waiting
And not watching and not waiting
To know what's inside.

Small bag without an owner
(hey, every bag must have a shoulder)
A wolf on the hill and the flock in the stillness
Of waiting and watching,
And not waiting, and not watching
To know what's inside.

"I know what you're thinking,
But I'm just a case full of love letters
neglected in spite,
just boxes of novelty items that could not be sold.

"I'm full of figures for the Board, and dull presentations,
A sandwich and an apple and a two-day-old lamington,
I've got Julia's clothes for the weekend at Grandma's,
I've got tickets to the opera, a last-minute shopping list,
A pair of glasses just fresh from the optometrist,
I've got lipstick, chapstick, a cheese-stick and twenty dollars
But I know what you're thinking."

Small bag without an owner
(hey, every bag must have a shoulder)
A wolf on the hill and the flock in the stillness
Of waiting and watching,
And not waiting, and not watching
To know what's inside.

"I know what you're thinking,
Such a habit of a hunter in gatherer's clothes,
But I'm just a schoolbag carelessly left behind
On a field-trip to a state exhibition of clocks
Tick, tick, tick tick and tock.

"I've got a history assignment, seven days late,
And a thing full of mp3's;
I've got a booklet of train times and a list of hotels,
I've got a small plastic bag full of stones and seashells,
I've got a teddy bear and a pair of shoes
And a bookful of Dr Seuss and the buckle
Near my handle is a little bit loose,
And I lean to one side 'cause I've always been dragged that way,
Fallen from hands, I have just lost my way,
But I know what you're thinking."

© Brendan Bonsack
December 2010

1. Little
2. Everything They Said
3. Unattended Luggage
4. Your Tree
5. Fear of Balloons
6. Love Love Love Love Love
7. Here it Is
8. A Time Traveler's Lament
9. Evolution
10. Beach

You Are Here
Released December 2010