A Slight Diversion

Happy holidays!  Some of you might know I am a published author elsewhere (poetry, fiction, and articles).  Anyway, I recently had a poem published in a print journal (The Final Note, Volume 3), and a couple of my friends asked to see it.  So here it is.  If you're not here for poetry, please feel free to skip this post.  :)  Also, just a quick disclaimer--I am a notorious rewriter, and this version is slightly altered from the published version (but I like this one much better!)

Luggage
Cindy Jones-Shoeman

I have two bags.

One is full of regrets, like
the time I chided my mother, telling
her the email she sent me was
racist, or that time in high school when
that cute boy I had a crush
on put his arm around
me and I just stood there
slouching.

The other is a lot bigger.  It’s

full of guilt, guilt for not sitting on
the floor longer with my daughter, playing
that boring building game; for not
visiting my grandma more often that last
summer, newborn in tow or not; for things said
and unsaid, done and not done, for glares and
sighs, for coldness and anger.

At various mile markers, I stop and
look through the bags, pulling out a few
items while realizing they’re fuller than last
time.  They get heavy.  Once in a while, I
set them by the side of the road, done with
them once and for all, but just a few yards
away, I run back for them.

I guess I’ll never know who I could
be without my luggage.