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
Lament of the Perfectionist
I am building a boat in the basement // and there are still so many details to work out.
The Grief Lexicon
I opened your bag today. The orange one Mrs. A gave you on your last birthday, the one with the gold buckle you said made you “feel like a senator’s wife.” I don’t know why I was reaching for it.
OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR
By Cara Howard
We waited two hours for our turn to pay our respects. Bill and I shifted in a pew at the back of the sanctuary while snapshots from happier days looped on large screens near the altar. Conversations buzzed all around us.