THE JUNK DRAWER - Poem

 

THE JUNK DRAWER
 
(Copyright 2021, by Dave Kiffer)

We all have one,
A place where keys
Without locks
Go to live out
Their retirements,
The place where
Obsolete electronics
Find everlasting life
Because we can't bear
To throw them out.

In time it fills with other
Things; batteries, nails,
Candles you won’t find
When the power goes out,
Things that get sideways
Blocking the drawer again
And again until you say you
Are going to clean it out,
But you never do.

And so it is with love.
As much as we
Would like to believe
We can move on
We never do.
We cache it away,
Every palpitation,
Every rued mistake,
In a rarely used chamber
Of a still-beating heart.

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