My laptop, iPod
Lie flat against the bottom
So conveniently

Like any other
Modern obsession we can’t
Treat with disregard.

Photographs will not
Surround the case, because I
Don’t have that many,

But even a past,
Abandoned lifetime deserves
A few muttered prayers.

The books occupy
The most space, as they always
Have, wordy giants:

Trilogy of elves,
Halflings and wizards warring
For the fate of men;

Two men discover
English magic on stormy
Moors, under gas lamps;

And a genius’s
Soul mate writes their adventures,
Hands steepled in thought;

And not forgetting
The others that have carried
Me down the road.