the verification of trinkets
Keith Francese


I still have a few things my mother
left me. One is a picture of
a single-story house and a
laundry line with white sheets flapping
beside an orange orchard plagued
by possums and an overabundance

of sunshine. Another is a
cross, awash, along the bottom
of a drawer full of tokens from
The Orient and a little
jagged rock I stole from a memorial
library in Big Sur. And yet

another is a birthday card
kept oriole in a cage, and
it reads: you, my son, are…

About the author:
Keith Francese received a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona and has taught English and poetry both in the United States and abroad. His work most recently appeared in Four Chambers Press. He currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona.