30 Day Poetry Challenge: Day 7: GARAGE

Day 7: Garage

Taken from the poem Barbecuing, in Swimming with Fish and other Animals, poems by Patrick Dixon

We hide things in garages
entombed them
dirty shrines to days past
we stuff these memories in ripped cardboard boxes
useful things, once useful
stacked in corners
cover them with tarps
always amazed by what we have collected
the sheer quantity
counting life in items and inches

Dust settles, spiders make homes
sometimes if something needs taking care of
we root around, find ourselves distracted by broken wagons
and deflated balls
make promises that this spring we will use it all

but we don't

In the dark garage of my mind
the ghosts have been whispering
I go there infreqently
unsure of what is molding
what needs fixing
what needs to be thrown away

But it's getting cramped, and spring birds remind me
it's time for spring cleaning
and garage sales

So park your car, walk over, ride your bike
bring $20, or 25 cents
there are memories laid on on plaid table clothes
a little chipped, some dusty, all loved
and at the end of the day
I've given most of it away

But the whipsers are less urgent

and I've room in my garage

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