I'm really not sure what to say about this piece other than the fact I've been staring at this little box for ten minutes wondering what to say other than the fact that I am completely speechless (not that you'd believe it by the way I'm rambling lol. but still!)

So here goes nothing:

As always, the title is perfect. The way you started "I own a large collection of maps...) is interesting and stunning and I love it. And then the way the poem itself takes on the persona of a map in the way it shows where you've been and a glimpse of where you might be headed is amazing.

Excellent write, I'm sorry I can't say much more than that... Just Excellent!

Hello Saffie,

Maps are usually road maps, showing us where we are and our surrounding area, an area yet to be visited.

Here your map is a map, a story of your difficult journeys, the painful ones that arguably mark the user with indelible ink. To rid one self of these maps is hard and takes time. This is time well spent, because as you rightly state, they belong in the past. Excising them one journey at a time, understanding them and with it a bit more about yourself takes the power and damage away from the memory and in turn burns the journey and the map it is written on.

Nothing is truly indelible!

Take care, Saffie.

Michael

Weekly Contest Judging comment:
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It breaks my heart to read those lines that speak volumes and volumes of many heartbreaks and heartaches. Using maps in a metaphoric way to deliver the message of being abandoned midway, or of being left and let go I found to be very meaningful. Maps were meant to guide us when we are lost, and in this poem, they painted the picture of her loss. Heartfelt and beautiful written.

Judging Contest Comment:
Would that we had such direction before we got started. Maps that tell us places we've been hurt mire us in the past. It's a brave soul, though, that can cast them into the fire and start anew.