Archivist Needed

by Elaine Weisburg

Half the drawers I open cue a memory,
memories mixed with paper trash–
sorting through them takes me hours.

Here’s a card that came with flowers
“Thanks for LI lovely years
…and a few more.”
Right as usual, the years too few.

Q and A for college Willy
“When should we wake you?
What about breakfast?”
“Ten o’clock. Eggs Benedict, Bellinis.”

A guest list for the party
when our Henry made partner.
Twenty-nine friends, four of them lawyers,
of counsel now in the afterworld.

Which of my descendants
will search through these scraps
and box up my biography?

Elaine Greene Weisburg spent about twenty years each at House & Garden (Conde Nast) and House Beautiful (Hearst) as design reporter and features editor, eventually editing a memoir column and two memoir anthologies.