April Anthology, 2013: Sketch

I am excavating memories

By digging through the pages.

I am flipping through strata of paper and graphite.

If I pull up a flap

Of black and white struggling,

I will find a muddling

Of moments of yore—

Persons, sermons, bookish lore—

And I can put the past on tap.

I need no words to survey the data.

Spiral-bound books are my moments’ wages,

The chronicle of my histories.