yard sale
the collectors pull up first and extra early
no shame for them regardless of the rules
circling like vultures waiting for their chance
and then the kids who’ve saved their pennies
looking for a new to them toy or perhaps a friend
with a frozen plastic smile to hug tight at night
the grandmothers in perfect polyester prints
can’t believe how expensive everything is these
days but are really just looking to buy time
a woman who goes from sale to sale carefully
choosing clothes and shoes to send to children
in africa – we give her everything she wants –
two young women who might be drunk or always
silly and don’t want to leave, looking to spend,
literally, every last dime they have
the boys who come overnight and vandalize
my father’s car, leaving evidence of what they
think is manhood or prowess, but steal nothing
bookworms who know what they are looking for
and are happy to rifle through our fifty-cent
selection, no shades of grey or romance here
the little birthday girl who loves horses and
has saved all her money to add to her collection,
she gets an extra breyer pony or two, free
a new mother searching for that perfect bag
of beads as her husband-boyfriend drives by again
and again saying you got a screaming kid here
the destitute father and teenage son who may
or may not be homeless but manage to tease
each other about kitten posters just the same
all weekend we sit and watch things we have loved
change hands, things we’ve never used earn a dollar,
things becoming the people that take them home
.
.
.
Linking up with the fabulous dVerse poets in a celebration of summer for poetics, join us!
August 18th, 2012 at 9:04 am
this was the best garage sale ever – buying time, stealing nothing, screaming kid, kitten posters. humankind.
August 18th, 2012 at 9:43 am
Really enjoyed this….humanity at a sale, brilliant & so well observed…loved “no shades of grey or romance here” …I chuckled 🙂
August 18th, 2012 at 10:25 am
I loved this. I didn’t want it to end.
August 18th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Great poem! Your descriptions are fantastic, I loved reading each little “guest story” woven throughout. A very enjoyable read!
August 18th, 2012 at 2:25 pm
i think you love people watching at yard sales just like i do….and even more, i love to see what some people eye/buy when other people, right before them, never even seemed to notice the treasures sitting right in front of them 🙂
August 18th, 2012 at 3:05 pm
Wow–I loved this. Especially the stanza where… No–dammit, I will not choose. All of it.
August 18th, 2012 at 3:09 pm
nice..there’s a certain magic to yard sales (as to flea markets as well) love the atmosphere and the happiness if someone found what they were looking for…ugh on the rowdies and loved that birthday girl who saved all her money for a new horse in her collection…
August 18th, 2012 at 3:13 pm
Yes, you have ‘nailed’ what a yard sale is like. One person’s junk is another person’s treasure. Good to clean out one’s closets sometimes…both literally and figuratively. Enjoyed this.
August 18th, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Lovely poem. Wonderful particular details that make it very vivid and yet universal. Really well done. k.
August 18th, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Our trash is someone else’s treasure. Love it that it doesn’t just get thrown away but becomes someone else’s joy. What a lovely read and, so true too.
August 18th, 2012 at 3:45 pm
ha i love it…have written several times myself on the flea markets and yard sales…such cool people….great capture of the grammas and just buying time…see them for sure….love yard sale…was just out there this morning for a bit…
August 18th, 2012 at 4:05 pm
We have car boot sales in UK ~ the closest we get to a yard sale, I guess. Same outcome though!
I enjoyed this very much.
August 18th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
I love perusing garage sales. I have found several treasures among someone else’s junk!I’ve come across many types of people along the way.
August 18th, 2012 at 4:57 pm
A lovely description of what sounds like a successful yard sale. Our neighbor had one this morning.
August 18th, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Yard sales (we call ’em car boot sales in the UK)- always attract folk from all walks of life – amazing to me the kind of stuff some people will buy- but then I guess- one mans junk is another mans treasure – but I think the poem goes deeper than this- saying something about how life goes on….and can be renewed in the right hands..very very nice
August 18th, 2012 at 5:18 pm
I didn’t want it to end, either.
A glimpse into your day, and a poetic one at that. xoxo
August 18th, 2012 at 6:18 pm
So fun. This makes me want to have a garage sale so I can write a poem like this. What a great study of humanity!
August 18th, 2012 at 7:45 pm
Some of the nicest people I know are “pickers”,I love a good yard sale, I guess we’re all looking for that little something extra that we can’t do without right?
August 18th, 2012 at 11:25 pm
Very nice. Very much a story and a pleasant one at that.
August 19th, 2012 at 12:55 am
i adore yard sales and flea mkts…
beautiful how you weaved the warps and wefts …all the minute intricacies on this piece….
here in india ….we mostly have yard sales in winters…people love being in the sun then….
August 19th, 2012 at 8:22 am
Nice observations of an American institution. They are rare here, car boot sales are far more common.
August 19th, 2012 at 9:05 am
Loved reading this! I felt like I was right there in the middle of it!
August 19th, 2012 at 1:01 pm
A human story that runs with a depth and perception that we follow, and wonderfully done
August 19th, 2012 at 1:19 pm
Well observed, a good story told, felt like I was seeing it myself…
August 19th, 2012 at 3:01 pm
This is really vivid–totally evoking personalities, situations and even emotions in its even descriptions and measured phrases. You make it clear it’s a mistake to lump all of humanity into one big mush–it has as many facets and outcroppings as a coral reef, just as rough, just as organic, even sometimes just as unintentionally beautiful. Loved this.
August 19th, 2012 at 3:36 pm
Such a beautiful depiction and representation of all of the emotion that surrounds a yard sale. Always wonderful!!!
August 19th, 2012 at 4:01 pm
that last line, wow…do things really become the new people that own them.
i agree with hedge, i like all these personalities so much.
street rubbish
August 20th, 2012 at 8:04 am
We would be remiss to not think of garage sales as summer’s great pastime…your depiction is exact and fun,,
August 20th, 2012 at 11:26 am
Having moved several times – always downsizing – and having been the caregiver for 3 elderly, childless great aunts, I’ve held more than my fair share of yard sales, eventually swearing off and deciding to forego the hot, hard work and just schlep things to the thrift shop instead. But this, this makes me rethink that tradeoff . . . at least just for a minute or two. Only you, my friend, could make a yard sale the poetic event of a lifetime. xo
September 10th, 2012 at 4:55 pm
I love the way you deeply and thoughtfully observe your world and the people who wander within it.