History Box

My box is made of cardboard,
the largest of a trio I bought
for myself: pale blue, adorned
with simple flowers, it has
a metal handle, and a white
ribbon to stop the lid from closing
when I explore what’s inside.
It’s a practical box.

In my box are images
in sepia, monochrome
and colour, higgledy-piggledy,
no order, like life. They
chronicle a family of five
generations (current photos
are stored on laptops and phones).
A myriad of memories.

My box is in my study, I can see it
when I write, dipping in for inspiration
or surprises. It is patiently waiting
for my daughter to take, open it
and show her sons their forebears
and explain the contents:
a cardboard box, photographs,
a grandmother and a family tree.

Kim M. Russell, 9th April 2024

I’m hosting Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub today with a prompt based on a poem by a favourite British poet of mine, Gillian Clarke.  The poem is ‘My Box’.

Clarke’s poem, written in free verse, explores the themes of relationships, strength, love, and eternity through the metaphor of the box. The challenge is to write a poem about our own metaphorical boxes. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about a relationship, but should be autobiographical and in three stanzas similar to those in Clarke’s poem: the first stanza describes the box; the second what is in it; and the third where it is kept, with a summarising list in the final two lines.

58 thoughts on “History Box”

    1. Thank you, Björn. I have another box and a couple of albums with a mixture of photos. I was planning to sort them into chronological order, but I haven’t had the time. All my photos since 2012 are on my laptop.

      Like

      Reply

  2. This is gorgeously rendered, Kim! 😍 I love that your box is a myriad of memories which you will pass on to your daughter. Those photographs are priceless! 🩷🩷

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. A beautiful box that is a heirloom of sorts, with the intent of it enriching the future, is a box to be cherished, Kim, and that comes across so charmingly. “A practical box” and one filled with love, where you go “dipping in for inspiration/or surprises” — Personifying it as “waiting patiently” makes it all the more immediate.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. A box stuffed with history. It’d be nice if you could show these memories to your grandchildren. I’m about worried about all that history on your laptop. They’re such flimsy things. I’d print some out and put them in the box actually!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. “In my box are images
    in sepia, monochrome
    and colour, higgledy-piggledy,
    no order, like life.”

    Those precious photographs hold so many stories. How wonderful that you have family to share these stories with.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Maria. It’s a pretty box but very sturdy. It was the largest of three but the smallest was water damaged. I keep birthday cards and postcards in the other one.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. Your box is wonderful, I actually have a box I keep in the closet made of cardboard. Filled with some of life treasures. This prompt made me think of it but, today I didn’t feel like opening that box. Too many memories.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. Like Petru, I think our digital photos will be much more ephemeral than those that were printed and treasured. It’s good that you have organized (and labeled, I would expect) yours. I inherited so many with people that could not be identified by anyone living–they will always be mysteries. (K)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks Kerfe. I dip and and sort out photos every now and then. There are so many of them. Many of the ones on my laptop have been shared with Ellen or she has shared them with me.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  11. Beautiful box, and lovely and treasured memories inside. I often think how we keep so much when we keep photographs, and how perhaps practical but impersonal it is that everything is so digital now.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. Your treasures focus on photographs, and that says a lot about the way you think about the past, transmission, inheritance. It’s often our only link with people we have an emotional connection with. And I agree, browsing through photos on the screen can’t compare with that careful sharing around of real physical photographs.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I do have other boxes with bits and pieces in but I’ve been trying to declutter, clean and tidy my study, and haven’t got very far because I keep stopping to look at photos, read letters and other such things that lead to procrastination.

      Like

      Reply

      1. Each time we move we vow to get rid of the rubbish, but we can’t agree on what constitutes rubbish. In the end, we bring everything and promise to sort through it later. There are boxes and boxes that haven’t been opened in years. Decades, some of them.

        Liked by 1 person

  14. A box full of precious memories! I am sure your grandkids will love going through your box. Every time my kids visit their grandma, their favourite pastime is rummaging through boxes of old photos. This is lovely, Kim. ❤️

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  15. Your Box is a beautiful reminder of the photographic memories we leave behind for children, grandchildren and beyond to discover .. to savor. I have learned to be careful, write dates and names of the backs of mine. Thank you for a delightful challenge, Kim.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  17. Kim, love that it is a real box, with real things in it. I think about those photos and family history items and if they will carry on to my granddaughter. My sons don’t seem to have much interest in them. Heart-warming poem and great prompt to write to ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  18. Kim, your box is a very likeable possession. I had all but the last three lines last night. I was too tired to finish so I finished this morning and used it for Day Ten at NaPoWriMo. For some reason I had lost track of where I had found the prompt poem. Also I had a very important to my health doctor’s appointment at 1PM so it isn’t the like last there lines of the model Poem but I had listed contents in the second stanza.

    Kim, did you know that I consider you as one of my mentors? You coaxed me along about 15 years ago when I first started writing poetry again. I hadn’t written any poems since years and years ago when I was in high school. I used a book to bone up on writing them but stopped when it told about writing prose. And now I have misplaced it. Thank you.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  20. This is lovely. You are giving a gift of you to you and later your family. I love little boxes and notebooks/journals filled with different things, the old fashioned ones that have real treasures in them a person’s thoughts, poems, photos and keepsakes. I can’t think of a more precious thing.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  22. Pingback: My Magical Box | A Dalectable Life

  25. “higgledy-piggledy,
    no order, like life.” Love this.😆

    “They
    chronicle a family of five
    generations (current photos
    are stored on laptops and phones).
    A myriad of memories.” So true, and sad, that we don’t store photos the way we used to.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.