In my grandmother’s attic I found a silver toothpick
Buried in a small wooden box
Like Egyptian sarcophagi
For mummified crickets
Something funereal
Once there was a grand occasion
1906 the Great Caruso home
After San Francisco
Everyone raising a glass
At Del Pezzo’s
Strangers lovers
Grateful
To be alive
In the age of song
& the tenor handing out his souvenirs