I think I remember when I didn’t have to possess things.
It took seven years to figure out what to do
with all my father had left behind after he died.
I have way too much now, I know acutely,
because when my mother died seven years after my dad,
I had all of their possessions combined to sort through,
so I’m eliminating as much as I can in order not
to subject whomever has to clean out my stuff after I die
to the pain upon sorrow in the sorting, the hard deciding.
Think twice. Three times. Four. More. Think again. And again.
More look at this one last time piles than donate this or toss that piles,
markers of life spread out over the house,
the burial mounds of children who, back before they had allowances,
before they knew that older people might buy them things,
before they had to have things because others had them,
were dying all the time to get their hands on more things,
back then when I didn’t even know what things were,
I think I remember that.
* * * * *
Today’s writing prompt is
collectors
Use it to inspire a piece of writing, and then post that piece as a comment below. I would love to read it : )
