Memory & Mandarins

September Bonus: Poem for the Exhale Blog Hop

I heard about a time capsule 

pulled up, dignitaries present, 

excited children, teachers,

the capsule opened to reveal 

bore water corroded the seal,

precious papers lost forever.

Everyone wept. My memory 

feels a lot like this. I want 

to remember the way you walk

alongside me on the footpath, 

your dark blonde hair hovering

at my hip. How you stop to put

a mandarin segment in your mouth. 

You do not know how to walk 

and eat. You do not know 

multi-tasking, productivity, hustle. 

You know the joy of savouring citrus

on a bright winter afternoon. 

I tuck these moments away, squirrel 

them like $5 notes in winter coats,

hide them in my journal, and hope

to stumble across them another day, 

like a spark of citrus in a brisk wind.

This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in the series "Moment in Time".