Closets and Drawers
For the treasure hunters
Crumpled up paper and bits of old string,
Half finished drawings and moth-eaten clothes.
Aged, faded photos; mismatched, tarnished rings,
Too small or large shoes all lined up in rows.
Trinkets stuffed haphazardly into a sack,
A broken kite in desperate need of a mend.
An old piece of paper shoved way in the back:
A love letter you had forgotten to send.
A collar belonging to a friend long since dead,
Banners and lights, broken, hang from above.
A whisper of the words that you never said,
A smelly old shirt that was once your first love’s.
A notebook of poems you had long since discarded:
They remind you of times that you longed to forget.
An outdated invite you had never regarded
To a formal occasion with a date never set.
Old year books and garbage; some half finished works,
Questionable pictures hidden from your folks,
A single sock where an ugly spider lurks;
Bucket lists you had made with your friends as a joke.
You take it all in as you open the doors,
Letting light and warmth into the space
That lies hidden within both your closets and drawers
Waiting patiently for your embrace.
What time machine is more effective,
What more reason is there to be glad,
When you reach and pull out a collective
Of all of the times, good or bad, that you’ve had?
(2014)
