into the void

...Before I'd traveled half a block
i spied the needle Mother dropped
(mending my dress two nights before--
we'd searched for hours on the floor),
the card that always disappears
(we haven't played Old Maid for years),
pennies I'd carried in my shoes,
the silver dimes I always lose,
bread crusts I'd hidden, hard as wood,
the puzzle pieces gone for good,
things worn or wished on, old or lost,
roses astonished by the frost,
the snails and numbers, stars and sheep
my mother counts to fall asleep...

from The Tale I Told Sasha by Nancy Willard

we always seem to be losing things: a couple of cosmo's DVDs, countless marbles, mittens and socks, carl's favorite wool sweater "Ol' Greeny," which we eventually found. for a while, a Microphone's album was missing from it's jacket, but we discovered it later in another record sleeve. some of these things are obviously easy to lose, but a jar of honey? most puzzling is the medium-sized maple wood cutting board, which has been missing for a month. it's a small house, with not a lot of nooks and crannies, and we have searched every conceivable place it could be, on numerous occasions. where does a cutting board hide?