Poem #6 from the Arts Fest Reading

********A Tub of Buttons********

I have a tub of buttons
to run my fingers through.

I have a tub of buttons.
Do you have some buttons too?

-------Q. Buttons, buttons,
-----------who’s lost their buttons?

-------A. Those who’ve gone before –
-----------I’ve got their history
-----------in this tub
-----------behind my cupboard door.

pea jackets,
little blouses,
and from off the ends of sleeves.

Time passes
and so do we
and this is what it leaves

from bouncy cotton jumpers
and yellow leisure suits
from velvet skirts and underwear
and Santa’s special boots

marble from the Parthenon
leather from a goat
plastic from recycled jugs
anchors from a boat

hieroglyphic messages -
happy faces too

You ought to have some buttons
to run your fingers through.
Come by, and I will show you mine,
and show me yours,
please do

before we grow much older, dear, and
as will surely come to pass,
we lose our buttons too.


-Uke Man