As an old man of seventy I am uncomfortable with things too neatly placed away. I live with the mess and dust until the cleaning service comes every third Tuesday. I do my laundry of sweat pants and graphic T’s from cruises, black socks and underwear, every Sunday between the end of Meet the Press and the start of Face the Nation, folding everything just enough to fit in the drawers without rebellion. I hate the neatness required of packing for vacations.
When I was six years old my mother would watch in weary amusement as I would spread my plush and clothing from corner to corner of my bedroom. The same dinosaur skeletons and fleshy behemoths she so neatly put away in the pirate treasure chest slightly lower than my hips the day before. The pine six drawer bureau taller than my left hand reach filled with comfortable denims and Adam West Batman/George Reeves T’s, all folded in Navy style in parallel rows.
I found joy living in these dens of shed items, the unpacking of things that had no place inside that bulging suitcase that my father took with him to Florida the day he left us behind in the Bayside cold.
This is good, sad, detailed, draws me in, allows me to add my experience in my head and heart while I am reading. Sorry for the pastiche in form of a response. Your work gives me much about which to think and feel.
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syreal
Love your work. Thanks for your support of mine!
My favorite part of this one was the kinetic impulse created by the “in the pirate treasure chest / slightly lower than my hips” it brought back memories of plunging into my own toy box as a boy. Much joy!
Just read a few of your poems. They leave me feeling you have so much sadness inside you like the “I find joy living in these dens of shed items…” The mystery of life and death, especially death and parting looms large in your life un-accepted, un-embraced, un-healed, un-understood, un-known…when one is sensitive, one’s outer and inner worlds reflect each other…your poems have a melancholy air to them that draws one into your world of bitter-sweet memories and experiences.
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