Welcome to A Poet’s Potpourri,

a monthly newsletter designed for your pleasure.

My intention is to share—

ENJOY: One Man’s Junk

LOOK: Shots of Dillon Lake and the Rockies

MEET: Jayne A. Harnett-Hargrove at the Museum of Outdoor Arts

LEARN: Cabinet of Curiosities

READ: The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart, the audio book narrated by Khristine Hvam. Winner of a Parents’ Choice Gold Award.

ENJOY: One Man’s Junk

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One Man’s Junk

One Man’s Junk

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” 1860

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We listed our home for sale.

The home we’d lived in

from when our oldest son started kindergarten

until our youngest graduated high school.

Stuffed closets, overflowing basement and garage,

all needed thinning.

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The solution— a garage sale

A single mom once told me she clothed

four children on garage sale finds.

A way to pass on items no longer needed

to those who want them at a fraction of the price.

My granddaughters have 41 preowned Barbies,

each tenderly named.

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We set up on Thursday,

clothing on one table, books on another

starting in the garage, extending down the driveway.

I remember the smiling faces,

a young couple wanted nature in their apartment.

They drove away with our five-foot philodendron

poking out of their VW’s sunroof.

A man, his arm amputated at the elbow,

bought ten years of National Geographic Magazines.

We carried them to his car.

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I sold half knit sweaters with extra yarn,

embroidery kits barely begun,

a collection of calico patches cut for a Friendship quilt,

a project conceived twenty years earlier.

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Remnants from lives well-lived —

autographed skateboard decks,

bearings and wheels

skate tools for adjusting

t-shaped trucks.

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All types of balls—

baseballs, basket balls,

footballs, tennis balls,

bocce balls flown home from Rome

in their own leather case.

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Whatever remained

was boxed and bagged,

hauled to St. John’s

for their annual rummage sale.

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That was ten years ago.

The basement bulges with unopened boxes.

Time to find that person whose eyes light up,

who finds treasure in what we no longer need.

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Susan Schwartz Twiggs, published in Moss Piglet, August 2025

LOOK : Dillon Lake and the Rockies

MEET : I travelled to Colorado last month to celebrate my brother Art’s 80th birthday. Cousin Carolyn introduces me to the Museum of Outdoor Arts to enjoy live music. It’s the cocktail hour. I notice a small building up on the hill, the size of a child’s playhouse, about 500 feet. I step inside. The installation is called a Cabinet of Curiosities and Impossibilities, its theme is the Brothers Grimm and each of the antique wooden cabinets holds a curated collection. One is in honor of Alice in Wonderland. Inside sits a sculpted bunny. On top a marble sculpture of Alice, the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit. There are extra cups of tea. Shall we ? Around the corner a cabinet glows with Red Riding Hood’s velvet cape.

Local artists are invited to display. This month’s artist, Jayne A. Harnett-Hargrove, plays with bricolage. She collects interesting 3D objects and artfully arranges them throughout her cabinets. Her exhibit, Monsters at Play is a cross between humorous and horrifying. I stare into layers of clay, leading down to a cave. I see the influence of costume design and opera.

Bricolage according to Harnett-Hargrove assembles works from materials, that are found or repurposed. The term comes from the French word meaning « to tinker. » It involves layered compositions that blend unexpected textures, forms, and meanings. Childhood memories tumbled to the surface—tea parties and read-alouds on my mother’s lap.

According to Jayne, she’s « word-wrangled, painted and taught on four continents. » If you’d like to see more of Harnett-Hargroves work visit her website at harnetthargrove.com. When you are next in Denver check out the Museum of Outdoor Art in Greenwood Valley. Open from May to October. moaonline.org

LEARN : Cabinet of Curiosities -The original cabinets dated from the 16^th century. Rulers and nobility often collected exotic items from ships trading with faraway places, like China or India. Practitioners of science also owned collections of skeletons or bones along with instruments such as astrolabs to measure the stars. Cabinets of Curiousities are credited with being the first private museums.

READ: The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart, the audio book narrated by Khristine Hvam. Winner of a Parents’ Choice Gold Award. Eleven-year-old Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have been travelling in an old school bus ever since they buried Coyote’s mom and her sisters. They never stay in one place long, but then something big happens that Coyote has to return for and the bus fills up with people who need to be somewhere that Rodeo and Coyote just happen to be passing through. A quirky book with lots of feeling. I recommend the audiobook.