Clutter

I opened the kitchen drawer and looked at the mess inside

Paperclips, scissors, tape, screwdriver, duct tape

Flashlight, coupons, little bulbs, metal screws

I looked at the mess

Suddenly the collective voice I hear so often

Said Marie Kondo it all

Minimalize, declutter, find the clean empty spaces

Feel the zen

I felt rebellious

Just because everyone is intermittently dieting

Ketoing, yogaing, meditating

Does not mean we all have to.

I love my world, I love my temporary silences

The early morning birds, coffee, my newspaper

I look around on so many evenings

The boys playing carom on the kitchen table

The boys playing video games on the gamer computer

The boys watching the TV serial The Boys

The shouts, the bubbling mac and cheese, the pizza and cookies

The shoes, the fast food wrappers

The keys and charging phones on the counter

The clodding footsteps, the tall, gangly bodies

As they whump down on sofas and bean bags

I look at my desk, the piles of papers I just want to use for my writing

I look at my closet, the clothes I wear and I don’t

I look at my kitchen

The dishes and pots and pans and cups and cutlery

I look at my prayer shelf

Do I need so many gods?

I look at my living room

The elephant collection, the crystal what-nots

I look at the china cabinet

Its Taj Mahal and globe and chessboard and unusual pottery

I look at my garage bursting at the seams with stuff that cars gently nudge

Yes there is clutter

Yes there is noise

Yes there is so much unfinished business

Poems to write, photographs to digitize

Connections to maintain

Life is messy

I love the mess, I love the noise

Today I am a capitalist suburbanite

Tomorrow I will become a Buddhist.