In Leaving Clutter Poem by Nellie Isabelle Steward Cooper

In Leaving Clutter

Rating: 5.0


Oh I would not have you clear me, so quickly
so quietly away - away -away! ! !

And into the trash bin throw
without even thinking or guessing
or seeking to know

Why? ?

What these trophies were
Or what woe betokened their collection
Not just rewards of negligence
Maybe something else - some vigilance
Against an implacable eternal foe?

Some badges here of abnegation or defiance
Spread - some solace here for sorrows
Some striving to be strong
Against temptation

Or despair

Some victories of the spirit alien to you but evident there

Not everything at once given away or thrown
away- away - away

But to be mused over - curious questions asked that never can be
Answered now - except by the heart that asks them here today

That asks WHY this, why HERE, its very special place
Why all this JUNK - JUNK - JUNK

Arranged so carefully and piled
So needlessly to fill
What vacancy - where did the heart err
that unexpectedly you find it there

Apparent and not obscure at all
to examine and perhaps compare
reflect, laugh, cry, grimace or swear

In chaos displayed with such majestic care

Stuff stacked and piled here and there and everywhere

With some fierce pride;
all that was found possible and not denied
now arranged carefully side by side

All affirmed against greatest of odds
through disapproving eyes
and disdaining nods

To you I would not leave
all that my life has been these many-many years

All clean, all neat and all so anonymous
with no fascination nor astonishment, to conceive

So lovingly now I leave
What I thought and was

A puzzle for some grey day

Tomorrow tis a splindid day
for such remembering - you say

You're right today's the day

To sweep me all - away, away, away! ! !



Isabelle Cooper

In Leaving Clutter
Monday, March 24, 2008
Topic(s) of this poem: blank verse
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Howard Johnson 03 April 2008

Excellent last stanza, A pleasure to read.

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Mary Gordley 25 March 2008

Isabelle, I found this write entrancing. Perhaps I see too much of my own cluttered lifestyle?

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