The only memento

from their marriage

was a large Plexiglas

bowl half-filled

with packs of matches

taken from restaurants

they’d eaten at,

“…though neither of

them smoked.”

Each pack represented

a memory of happier

times.

The, For Sale-Motivated

to Move, house had no

other signs of him:

No clothes

No pictures

No photo albums

No favorite pillows

No books…

I saw matches

from two places

I had worked at,

roughly ten years

apart. She noticed

me looking and said,

“I’ll throw them all

away when I go-

there’s no reason

to keep them now.”

We didn’t buy the home.

The price was right, but

the vibe was all wrong.

I wondered where

he was living now.

How it was she was

left behind.