Mess Over Neatness
by Michael Doyle

Shall we live as Lucy or Linus
As a spreadsheet of plus and minus
Minimalism can be said to be neat
But life as messy has this beat

It is a deep-seated emotional need
That a life well-lived is one freed
From all the hassles of constraint
That neat-freaks pass along as restraint

The possessions that we keep say we were here
However clumsily these might actually appear
Strewn about and laying around, they hold our personality
Only the clutter remains of us eventually

The unused paperweight can hold our sentimentality
Depending on how long it's been in the family
Our mementos are flung into the corners of our rooms
Like life's tapestry woven on invisible looms

It's not a thrift store but a store room of the lost
That comes to us as presence of memory's faded cost
These bring the paraphernalia  of all of our yesterdays
Into the future of what we find we cannot castaway

The possessions that we keep, say we were here
However clumsily these might actually appear
Strewn about and laying around, they hold our personality
Only the clutter remains of us eventually

Each of the objects that hold on as permanents
Have an unofficial reason and feeling like remnants
Reminders of past lives lived as we muddle through
The midlife passages that make us start anew

Braving the piles of all the sordid items collected
Can bring an afternoon of memories recollected
Cramming our spaces with the tokens never really be wrong
All of these traces we keep are where these belong

That possessions that we keep, say we were here
However clumsily these might actually appear
Strewn about and laying around, they hold our personality
Only the clutter remains of us eventually

(c) July 12, 2023  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved