Inspired by radioactiveart

[vakira]

I find my poetry is often sparked by reading someone else's work. Thats' the case with this one:

Maps 2a
On the wall in his office
The World
(presented, of course, by National Geographic)
Is covered in pins and holes

It has always been so
Since I began visiting a few years back

I wonder why there are colors jumbled about
Are they ages when he visited
friends
children
particular vacation weeks
A wife in every port

He was in The War
Perhaps they were battle sites
Deaths
Hometowns of lost comrades

Today
There seem to be more holes than pins
The time seems ripe to question

He offers a simple smile
Tells me they are still in the right places
Just on a larger scale

The pins on this map are where I want to visit
When I go
The pin comes along in my collar
And stays away when I come home
Same place
Different scale

We talk about his travels
He does not show me keepsakes
He takes nothing home with him
Except memories

As long as I remember
I don't need a mnemonic device in a box to remind me
And when all those pin-holes
Are matched by ones inside
I'll know its time to take that trip
To the place not on any map

But I will still have a pin in my collar

When I am home that evening
I begin to practice acupuncture
On Rand McNally