The Gift Of The Empty Hand (edit #3)

[ellajam]

There's so much feedback, I almost afraid to comment, so I will keep to a few quick points:

You left without your things.

Eighty years of salvage shelved 
beside Cayce, Twain and Eliot;
issues from the weekly deluge 
of Archeology, New Yorker, Science   [Archeology, Science, New Yorker,] vocalizes a bit smoother
and annotated testaments 
the rest of us would never read.
Closets harbor picnic baskets     With "deluge" above I see you are going for the water motif, but I really stumbled on "Closets harbor"; if there was a stanza break it might work better.
and rescued vacuum cleaners;
Polaroid cameras in their striped boxes;
photos of your youth, and ours.

When the ocean took it all
your grin appeared and whispered: [appeared, whispering:]
They're just things.      [even though it is admittedly so far away, I wonder about the repetition with line 1 of the word "things"]

My arms are full of empty,
free to hold today.

You seem to be (nicely) comparing the reaction of him/her with the reaction of [narrator] you. Is the idea that the gathering/accumulation was done of one mind, but the loss revealed the divergence? I am also bothered by the opening seeming to refer to the end of the relationship, but the loss of stuff caused by (seemingly) a random weather event. Is it some big coincidence? Or am I miss reading this?

There may be more to mine there.

Thanks so much, Akira, for giving your time to this. Since it seems I've accidentally deleted the new edit I'm working on   you post is most timely. I will work on the sonics of the magazine list, possibly drop the "of" also, thanks for your suggestion, possibly

issues from the weekly deluge:
Archeology, Science, New Yorker

then some version of the article line from the previous edit that seems to be a loss here.

I want to keep the contents confined to one stanza but I will try to think of some other way to smooth the stumble of "closets harbor", thanks for pointing it out.

The repeat of things is intentional and my attempt to let it go was not successful. I'm pretty sure I'm keeping that but I am most concerned with the opening line not getting across what I intend. Your closing comments are on the money until you seem to not know why those things were left, and then kept. You are not alone in your confusion. I am being stubborn in not making the poem clearer, I will think about it again (and again and again ).

Never be afraid to comment, each critique is a gift, much appreciated.