Passed-on goods

I like charity shops because I can see:

A collection of naked Barbie dolls
Unashamed
In a bin
For only 50p

Your grandfather’s suit
Worn once
Some gravy on the sleeve
A hole burnt from the last time he remembered who he…

The rest is either
“Shogun Assassin” or “Mr. Men Volume 4”
And tatty slogans like “live, laugh, Prosecco” on cheap wooden boards.

Broken buttons
Battered boxes
The constant intrusion of physical beats
Or covered invisibly with another person’s grief

In-
Com-   
Plete

A puzzle,
With a missing piece
Leaving the final picture up to
Whatever you want to feel or believe


I like charity shops

They let me breathe
In that fleeting moment
Of someone else’s life unknown -
a transplanted grief.

They Let me feel a sort of “passed-on” reprieve
At the thought of how much
My things will receipt.