Scraps

“Scraps” was published in the Apricity, November 2022.

Last night I met the old poet. Not so old, really, his face smooth and broad. I asked for any
scraps—symbols to prompt my own writing. He reached into the pockets of his holey trench coat
and withdrew a fistful of trash: Starlight Mint wrappers, used napkins, faded gas receipts. I
thanked him and promised to send him the resulting poems. He said that he didn’t want to see
any poems but insisted that I mail him back his scraps.