Day 30: The Lost Closet

For today's poem, I had to write about an article of clothing.  There is nothing more haunting than the glassed in closet on display at The House of Happy Walls.  Charmian London had an incredible collection of clothing.  But, what's hanging in her closet are just a few of her hundreds of dresses and tiny shoes (she was a very small woman).  This draft is a small little pantoum that thinks about all of Charmian that is still hidden from our view.

Charmian’s Lost Closet

When we think of lost artifacts
it’s difficult not to imagine
the last scene in The Raiders of the Lost Arc
the warehouse of crated treasure.

It’s a difficult picture:
Charmian’s extensive wardrobe,
a warehouse of crated treasure
What’s on display, behind glass,

merely s few selection of her wardrobe
tiny shoes, their brocade stitched in hidden messages.
And on display, behind glass,
The exotic birds of her dresses. 

Tiny shoes tapping out a morse code
a coded diary not to be found until after her death
muted sequined birds tagged and crated
in a warehouse in Sacramento.