Palm-Sized Wallet

This palm-sized,
executed in baby-blue leather, gold
colored key ring, bookstore purchase

and Christmas gift.
Its purpose
simple, J-Card holder.

I’ve observed too many things:
the stark loneliness, fears
we might or might not overcome.

But let the record show
we were in earnest.
O let the palm-sized wallet

stand! For the sleepless pre-med
with his books and coffee;
for Li in the library;

for the grad student on Craigslist,
expert on logic, and Amanda,
blooming, singing survivor. For Maria and Kate,

awake at nine, and the theater enthusiast
reading her Proust, the engineer
in his room with the bare white walls,

for his gratifying, heated appraisal
and panicked pleasure when I touch him.
Let the leather age,

but let the palm-sized wallet
stand against the forthcoming,
monetary, quickly sanitized,

loaded with signed-contract respectability.
Let me, where I may go,
never forget lessons learned,

Here Baltimore, MD, 3400 N. Charles St.