Poem 362 – Dresser

Dresser

holding the bottom of the drawer
with my palm flat against the taped
crack in the thin-wood, I pull the first
rectangle toward my chest
brace for the mess

it has been over a year since I
cleaned out this dresser in the kitchen
this antique holder has accumulated
a wild jungle of Things

the usual suspects surrender:
paperclips twisted open & snapped
in unusable halves, elastics crusty
with age, three decks of playing cards
none complete, broken pencils
empty pens, teeth-marked erasers
in hideous chunks

this top drawer holds the worst of
the Things Without A Home
Things small & singular that got
shoved in the smirking mouth of
a broken drawer when there was
no time or care to give them a
Proper Place

I give many Things a farewell & heave
into the garbage but among the
Things bound for the trash, I find art
by the kids, sloppy & perfect, finger-painted
birthday cards, thank you notes, an
anniversary card ‘For My Wife’
post-its, pads, pins of such antiquity
the silver has bled to rust
in the reorganization I contemplate
the importance of Things when I
give them meaning
how painful it is to throw Things out
because of where they’ve been
because of where they’re going

later, I cut my thumb & feel relief
when I open the second drawer
tidy & tame, take out a band-aid
from the bundle in the basket
feel the result of a gentle purge
in the ease of finding the Thing
that covers my wound

my blood drips on the kitchen floor
a circular pool of crimson between
the legs of the dresser

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Only three poems to go!

Can you believe it?! I can’t. I mean, I really can’t! What am I going to do when January 1st, 2022 rolls into life? Do I do another year of a poem a day? I think…no. I’ve been thinking about something else…another writing practice…something different than poetry, but still writing. Every day writing. It will be really weird not writing a poem every day. But it may just happen that some days I will write a poem…that a poem may bloom out of…well…I will keep you in a bit of suspense, ok?