2011 Issue - Santa Fe Community College

ing from memory which holds which,” she said. Her husband erected
large metal floor-to-ceiling shelves in one room, stacked with the suitcases.
So the suitcases have “a room of one’s own” “Well, yes,” she responded,
rather sheepishly. What does her husband think about suitcases
taking up a room that might have served instead as an office or exercise
room “He doesn’t have a chest of drawers,” was all she answered.
They say a woman’s purse can be compared to her vagina. Can a
suitcase be likened to her womb, and numerous suitcases to a gallery of
feminine potentials
The question of travel arose. When a woman who owns 108 suitcases,
all filled, is ready to go on a trip, is she then without a suitcase
Does she just shove everything into a paper grocery bag Ship things
ahead in cardboard box Travel light and leave everything in its colorcoded
and shelved glory at home “I do try to keep at least one suitcase
empty for travel,” she said.
Or does an owner of 108 suitcases even need to go anywhere
Diane’s suitcase room is like the hold of a ship or the baggage compartment
on an airplane. It might be freeing, living somewhat like a rock
star, a private jet of a domestic dwelling and countless pieces of luggage
always in tow.
Diane wakes every morning, already arrived at her destination. She
opens a door and finds, at any time, that a virtual bellman has delivered
her luggage in perfect order, waiting to be unpacked. Or rather, packed
and ready, destined to launch her through another day, another year of
her own making.
104 Santa Fe Literary Review