LOVE Poem: Penny for your thoughts?, by Addie Hemsley

I love pennies.
I always have
and suppose I always will.
They’re unique,
so different from their
brothers and sisters;
dimes and quarters and nickels.
Metallic copper with smooth sides.
I don’t care about nickel or zinc,
nor their sparkling silver faces.

In the eyes of society,
they are worth next to nothing,
and yet they are here.
They are something.
Most people spot the little piece of treasure
and continue on their way.
Even worse they throw them out,
denounce their worth because,
“It’s just a penny”
and never give a second thought.

I think about those people often.
Good luck, as the saying goes,
isn’t the only thing they are missing.

I imagine the hands that have
touched his surface;
weathered and cracked from hard work,
now buying dinner for his family.
Busy with the insanity called life,
tossing the small coin in the tips cup.

I collect them in glass blown
jar with a piece of cork
sealing them in place.
I could take the time to count each coin–
note its birthdate and where it came to be.
The condition of it’s skin–
newborns in a dying world,
others mint from oxidation.
But I don’t.
I love them just the way they are