Tag: Poetry

Kleenex and Sneakers…Hum along

Use my lyrics- inspired by 17 years of professional organization, downsizing and estate sales work- into my mom’s favorite song:

(To The Sound Of Music: These Are “A Few Of My Favorite Things” as best you can…)

….Snot Rags And Sneakers, Faux Leather Purses- Falling In Pieces, Stuff-ed With Red And White Striped Mints And Old TUMS In Wrappers,  A Few Half Dollars That Showed Up Wrapped In Disintegrating Toilet Paper, Not to Forget Old Underwear …And Orthotics… And Bath Tub Lifts.

Old Rose Medallion Punch Bowl, On The Floor Of The Closet,  A Stash Of Pennies In A Parkay Container, A Stack Of Old Books I Shoved In A Box. These Are The Things That I Would Live Off Of Later.

The Chain Saw In The Closet, Set Up On The Shelf. This Is A Symbol Of Old Age Itself.

These Are The Things That My Job Is About. Job Is About. Join In…

It’s Not Just Stuff

Things
BY LISEL MUELLER
What happened is, we grew lonely
living among the things,
so we gave the clock a face,
the chair a back,
the table four stout legs
which will never suffer fatigue.

We fitted our shoes with tongues
as smooth as our own
and hung tongues inside bells
so we could listen
to their emotional language,

and because we loved graceful profiles
the pitcher received a lip,
the bottle a long, slender neck.

Even what was beyond us
was recast in our image;
we gave the country a heart,
the storm an eye,
the cave a mouth
so we could pass into safety.
Lisel Mueller, “Things” from Alive Together: New and Selected Poems. Copyright © 1996 by Lisel Mueller. Reprinted by permission of Louisiana State University Press.