The Backporch Review 2022

Dominoes
By Jillian Speakman, 10
I glance over to the shelf on my bedroom wall
Displaying multiple treasures family passed down to me.
My eyes find the faded and fraying leather box of dominoes
That have traveled through two countries
And passed through three generations.
I’ve known these ivory blocks my whole life,
Each chip in their yellowed bodies memorized.
I learned the game as soon as I could walk.
I’d play every chance I’d get
Picking ceramic prisms of dots over wooden alphabet cubes.
I was ten the last time the dominoes were used;
The day my grandfather couldn’t play anymore
He handed them down to my mother,
Who passed them down to me
Upon her father’s passing.
I keep our ivory in its emerald leather box on a shelf on my wall
Along with the other forgotten mementos my family gave up
That would’ve been tossed away otherwise.
These fragile blocks hold nothing but positive memories
And though they remain untouched, they still serve purpose.
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