The Attic of My Mind

I was clearing my (cluttered) desk the other day, and I had started categorizing my notes - I get through Post-It notes really quickly, as I jot down anything that I think can be used in a poem or story. So I was thinking about how these Post-It notes are also in my head. I have these files of images and jottings in my brain too, and I was thinking about how much like an attic it must be in my head. As I thought about this, the more I thought it could be turned into a poem. Here it is!

The Attic of My Mind

There comes a time, just once a year

When I decide to clear out my attic.

All the rush and the focus of the months gone past have

Forced away the thoughts that I store, until they

Are nothing more than scraps of scrawled-on paper.

So I unload each boxful, blow off the dust, shift through the notes -

The memories, the events, the regrets, the opinions -

About the world around me.

Scrapbooks and photos, drifting across

The windows to my mind, blocking my vision until

I can see nothing but my thoughts. I must

Sort and stack, pile and pack, each and every scribbled message

To myself.

One cannot move forward when one is buried in the past.

Re-stack and re-stock, with those jumbled up ideas, those

Moments of glee, of sadness, of joy, merged into the months of thinking.

The lost jigsaw pieces, the broken games, those

Discarded things I no longer need.

Clothes that are too old, too torn, too dirty

Or that I have simply grown out of, piled to be thrown out.

The forgotten loves, forgotten friends, forgotten photos of

The girl I once was, long ago. These I wrap in tissue paper,

To protect from the harsh words of today,

To cherish in the warm light of tomorrow.

Checked off and accounted for, added to and removed from,

My thoughts now collected and categorised,

I pack away these boxes and bags and tubs of treasures,

My thoughts about the world. Cardboard lining the walls of

My attic once more, the spiders now allowed to roam again,

I can let my thoughts gather dust

Until I clear them out again.