Landscape with Open Gate, by Pieter Molijn
Six Rules to Tidy My Life
Commit
I will discard
a lifetime of refuse.
Careers, friends, lovers,
Family.
What resonates still?Envision
How do I want to live
these last precious years?
Open, fecund, welcoming.
Only strings of my choosing.Discard
Each decision
bears consequences.
The path disappears in a sudden fog.
I cannot see ahead.Right Order
What comes first?
Needs or desires,
passions or interests,
people or places.What Remains
Pared to the bone,
tooth marks score the surface.
A wild fox gnaws his leg
to escape the trap.Spark of Joy
A song rises
through the pain.
It is my soul.
Unrecognized, it sings
the songs left behind.
(Thanks to Marie Kondo)
January 3, 2024
About the writer
Gail Barrington has enjoyed a varied career as a teacher, consultant, professor, and researcher, but her first love has always been creative writing. Now retired, she finally has the time to pursue this passion. Along with writing poetry, she is currently working on a YA eco-adventure novel.
Further considerations
Baby Boom and Bust
‘Howdy hoody! Lemme guess: you was just passing through the middle of middle England, and you recognized the flame-decorated Ferrari outside my Hobbit Hole, and you buzzed ‘cos you fancied a parley?'
Telling the Truth
I once told a therapist my father was molesting me. It wasn’t true. I was twenty-five and exhausted, lying awake most nights trying to understand why I felt so sad when nothing in my life was obviously wrong.
Thoughts of Endangered Paper
Here I am, looking at this copy of a // two hundred-dollar book.
this is about capitalism, and The Poet Sees Her Ex at Pride
duty pulled a mountain along lesser used roads. // time was ill-spent preparing workers for the crossing.