Long ago now

I am searching for my feelings
through shelves of dusty books
can’t help but feel I’ve left them
in some forgotten ancient nooks
as if an author long before me
captured my emotions in his day
and saved them in fine poetry
for future me to find someway

—Terri Guillemets

Nineteen eighty-seven

Been collecting quotes
since nineteen eighty-seven,

Be collecting them ’til
the day I go to Heaven.

And if by chance
it’s to the contrary,

Here’s hoping Hell
has a great library!

—Terri Guillemets

P.S.  I had this on the “about me” page of The Quote Garden until I was going through the memory box my mom made for me and came across the essay I wrote in school about The Scarlet Letter, which was the book that really got me seriously hooked on collecting quotations. And this essay was dated October 1986. I had only taken a best guess about the 1987 date. So now with dated proof, I had to ‘eighty-six’ this silly little autobio poem. But I’m keeping it anyway as a scrapbook memory for myself. I’ve yet to attempt a rewrite rhyming the proper year, although ‘Styx’ has great literary potential.  —tg, 2012