David Adès

On the Cusp of Another Birthday 

Shopping again
at the Department Store of Loss —

pockets full of the currency of memory —

I talk to myself to breach the silence,
marveling

at how the stock has grown

though nothing is on sale here,
nothing is free,

and at how easy it is

to fill my shopping bags
with absences,

how hard

not to walk out the door
without leaving my heart on a shelf.

David Adès is an Australian poet whose most recent book ‘Afloat in Light’ is available through UWA Publishing at https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/afloat-in-light.