Receipts

I’ll keep these for a time
Since they mark and note
The trip I took not so far
Away or so long ago

Pay slips from the turnpike
To represent my drives
Out and back, a map of
A town back home I found
At a station kiosk—sometimes
These are surprise-filled
Documents, even for a
Place I know

Coffee receipts out, those
For sandwiches on the
Way back in

Business card for a city
Place, the kind of which
We do not have in my
Small town, but at which
I had lunch with my family

Saint Vincent de Paul, whose
Thrift store I visited with my
Sister, where I bought a small
Piece of clear-black glass

An olive oil store—a
Festive, promising
New niche place—I
Got a narrow bottle of
Honey-serrano vinegar
For my brother-in-law
Who cooks a lot

Purchase record for a
Calendar I bought
On sale and then the

Best—a paper testimony
From a local bookstore

How I wish there were
More like this! I had gift
Card, it had the books

There are other neighbor
Places to support—those
Selling food and clothing and
Art-expression pieces from
Those makers starting out
Close by

But these books will do
They were my part in
My going, my time away, and
My returning afterward

My small trip—for
Now, a small-documented
Odyssey