Things With Other People's Names In Them
To Ellen, 1978
A used book with a fountain-pen inscription on the flyleaf. The book changed hands and outlived the wish, but the ink held.
Things With Other People's Names In Them
Things With Other People's Names In Them
Marion, on the Bottom
A secondhand casserole dish with a strip of masking tape underneath. Labeled to come home from a potluck, and somehow didn't.
Things With Other People's Names In Them
The Name in the Collar
A thrift-store jacket with a name in laundry marker inside the collar — the way a coat gets labeled for camp, or for a home.
Things With Other People's Names In Them
The Card Between the Pages
A handwritten recipe card fallen out of a used cookbook — a crossed-out measurement, a grease thumbprint, somebody's kitchen kept by accident.
Things With Other People's Names In Them
This Book Belongs To
A used textbook with a name and grade filled into the ruled line inside the cover — the kid grown up or given up, the name still holding the desk.
Things With Other People's Names In Them
Someone Else's Initials, Twelve Dollars
A secondhand toolbox with three letters burned into the handle. The tools sold off one at a time, the mark staying behind to answer a new hand.