Concealed

A large brown neatly zipped purse

is what Miss Martha Dupree carried to

room 111 at Butler High School.

Every day for forty-three years

Miss Martha locked that satchel

in the lower left cabinet drawer.

She did not get out lipstick or

loose change during the day.  Locked in,

no one could differentiate the bag from the dark air.

Every day for forty-three years

Miss Martha retrieved her purse and

walked peacefully out to her Pontiac

or Chevrolet and drove home.

Her bag stood on her sideboard

 in the darkened dining room every day

except Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Those days the upstairs back closet

was where it reposed.

Every day for forty-three years

on the weekends and during the summers

Miss Martha’s large brown purse went

with her to church on Sunday and

to the Piggly Wiggly on Saturday mornings.

She carried the bag dutifully

to the doctor yearly

and the dentist biannually.

One bag and the same or several identical

replaced with age and wear? For all of those years

 no one knew what she carried.