Content From A Shoebox

you collect images the way some people collect

trading cards. they'll come in handy you say.

you're no writer or collage artist, you gather

them all the same.

a picture of a cat staring listlessly into the camera,

a woman sobbing,

the President speaking to congress,

the beach at dawn,

the cluttered desk of a stranger,

a picture full of pyrite,

the crowd at an anti-war rally,

your mother and father when they were young,

downtown LA in the 1930's,

a beautiful women wearing only her smile,

the field of Gettysburg after the battle,

Paris during World War II,

a portrait of your favorite writer,

you the first time you met your grandparents,

a forest of redwood trees,

someone you once loved,

bears catching salmon from the river,

the Andrea Doria on its side, ready to disappear,

a satellite image of North America at night,

the hands of two elderly people clasped together,

a princess awaiting her prince.

What is the next step?

Must there be one?