Like Momma's 70's Sewing Box

I can't really remember

if it was a sewing box

or just a box

but I was only 8

and that was a long time ago,

but I recalled it, when

cleaning these old beads.

Yes,

it was brown and seventies swirled

and like a tortoise shell

or so I remember.

The handles crossed one another

over the top

when the lid was closed,

like an ungrateful child who didn’t get her way.

I recall loving the transparency of it

and the roundness of it

because, even when it was closed,

it allowed me to see what was inside,

kind of like momma, you know?

I could see even then,

through the responsible exterior,

a transparent softness and clarity and strength;

and the way she swayed

to the crackled songs on the

record player as she

sipped her hot tea;

I knew even then
that I wanted to be

very much like her

and her seventies swirls.