Dismantling

The more I box up, the more I wish to throw away. I'm a pack rat. Not an incorrigible one, but a pack rat, nonetheless. I have, in my house, the collected detritus of a decade, and I'm only now beginning to realize that I need very, very little of it. A good rule of thumb: if it hasn't been used in the last five years, it is probably expendable.


Dismantling

The clutter of a spartan life is clutter, still,
and cursing never cured a messy room,
so open all the drawers and let the garbage fill,
condemn the sullied tiles to the broom,

as, box on box, the stacks ascend in even shoots,
a camel cardboard forest from the floor;
I'll keep no more than needed when I'm pulling roots
and carrying my chattels out the door;
a dwelling and a heart; no less, no more.