Layers
each year
around this time
I resolve
to simply
s i m p l i f y
and each year
I’m still sitting here
trying to resolve
maybe that’s why I love
the ocean so much
‘cause it’s wide-open
with nothing on the surface
but a passing sailboat
I love land, too
‘cause it’s wide-open
could walk for days
and days
then rest under a tree
and keep walking
but here in the real world
there are layers and layers and layers and layers
of stuff
everywhere I look
I long for a truck
and the resolution to fill it up
with all this stuff
and drive it off (a cliff)
however many times
it takes
to feel that feeling
that wide-open feeling
to be minimal
my life is far from minimal
I’d like to move
just so I could box it all up
and stand in empty rooms
like when the house was first built
and there was nothing in it
but I know you have to have a chair
to sit in
a table to put your plate on
a bed to lie down in
and an outlet to plug it all up
the television, the Internet, high-def, surround sound,
the blender, the toaster, the frig, the stove, the washer, the dryer, the lamp, the rest
gotta have my music
my books
my paintings
my pictures
my equipment
all the pretty pieces
too much beauty
and that’s just the top layer
there’s the junk layer
the sentimental layer
the wardrobe layer
the gadget layer
the bulk layer
the storage layer
the why in the world layer
the gift layer
the decoration layer
the can’t get rid of layer
BUT I CAN
I can get rid of it
I have that choice
I can methodically sift through the layers
and purge
so, why haven’t I
done that
yet
here and there I have
but you’d never know it
‘cause getting rid of layers
takes time
and energy
a toll
but more than anything else
it takes resolve
a tanker truck load
of resolve
(and a giant cliff)
TL