Pennies for My Thoughts

Moyra Davey, Copperhead No. 1
Pennies are worthless--worse than that, actually, since they in fact cost more to make than they are worth. I now try to get rid of them as soon as I can, but I've decided to extract some last value from the little buggers before they go: I look at the year they were made and try to conjure a memory from that year before I set aside the penny (always on a level surface, like a windowsill or a payphone top, and not on the ground). If I get a year that precedes my birth (not that often, but it happens), I think of what my parents were doing then, and of anything historical or cultural I can think of from that year. I get a lot of duplicate years, which means I have to rifle deeper, and sometimes longer, in my recollections. I must say, it's been a rewarding exercise, these shiny little beacons of reflection in my hectic days. They almost feel like prayer.