I wrote this poem years ago as a sort of incantation to break through a psychic log jam that had kept me from clearing out a major case of clutter. It worked. Can you relate? Ever been a packrat? Ever fear that if you didn’t arrest a particular out-of-hand mess that you’d end up on TV as a hoarder? Of course, messes can be internal and psychological as well–a tangled rat’s nest of troubled feelings or nagging thoughts. Feel free to use this poem if you ever think it might help. Otherwise, just enjoy:

Packrat’s Prayer

Burden
Of all my clutter of things
Burn away

From stored heat
Of my hoarding

Off sputtering spark
Of my kicking you from my path
And then crying for you

On kindling
Of my touching you, with attention
Once more for memory

In licking, spitting flame
Of my angry final tossing you away.

May your ashes bed my flowers and living offshoots
Marrow my earth, and pack me more integral

May your smoke drift me less heavy, wrap me more loosely
Blend me into white sky and mesh me with the rain

Blend me into white sky and mesh me with the rain