Glimpse

Claudia McGill 11 Comments

From Look Winter in the Face, published in 2015.

Glimpse

The grocery list
someone left behind
in the bottom of the
shopping cart
I picked it out and
unfolded it
A shaky hand had written
a few words I could not read
not a one
and so I put it back
in the cart and I chose another cart
and it just didn’t seem
right to me
to have looked at the paper
but I can’t really say why
It wasn’t a letter
or a note but still I felt
I had stepped on
someone’s secrets

Glazing list 10-17 small

11 thoughts on “Glimpse”

  1. I can understand that. It’s like you secretly reached into the person’s life. I’ve found lists or appointment cards left in library books.

  3. I was thinking that, but when people are talking in public, they can expect they might be heard. These are things that they did not expect others to see. But oh yes, I’m always curious, too. 🙂

  5. You are right, the notes/lists are definitely not meant for sharing. But if you leave it in your cart or discarded it somewhere besides the trash, knowing it could be found, hmmm, I wondering? Maybe you released it to the universe or at least, you didn’t care? This is interesting, I think.

  6. Knowingly left–yes, released to the universe. I was thinking of a list that was dropped or discarded accidentally. But perhaps the universe has a say in that, as well.

  8. I found a shopping list in a cart about a year ago and decided to take it home and use it as collage material. On the other hand, I found a handwritten recipe tucked between the pages of a library book I was perusing several month ago, and I tucked it back into the exact same page once I had finished flicking through the book. It felt right to restore it to where the recipe writer had left it.

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