On The Care Of Cardboard

I:
This battered box of memory
is where I keep them—
my childhood, and yours.
Instead of packing tape
I reinforce the corners with
Exercise, Healthy Living.
To save the box.

II:
Across the street,
there’s his box
disintegrating from
age, misuse, and disregard—
The cardboard softens into
material pliable as cloth,
loses its shape, leaves it—
abandons the work of holding