The Junk Drawer

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The Junk Drawer

By Jane Tawel

February 14, 2023

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Everyone needs a junk drawer,

a little drawer where they can keep

the things not really needed,

but that they just can’t throw away.

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I have a junk drawer

where I store

the odds and ends,

the manuals and receipts,

things that cause me fear

to disregard;

Things I’m too afraid that I might need someday.

I’ve thrown in

the pictures and notes,

the nails and screws and washers,

the old wine corks and pieces of string;

the things that must belong to things –

 — I’m sure of it! — 

things I might need some day.

A junk drawer is a useful thing,

as long as you can close it;

as long as you can shut inside

all the things you can’t decide about,

all the things you plan on thinking about,

all the stuff you don’t know

what to do with,

stuff to save to figure out,

where it might belong,

stuff to save for using,

another day,

tomorrow maybe,

but not today.

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I wish I had a junk drawer

for thoughts my mind can’t throw away.

I wish I could cram down inside

all the thoughts I have no use for,

thoughts that cause me fear

to disregard;

 thoughts that have no purpose,

but that I might find handy to pull out,

one day,

but not today.

I wish had a place that I could open,

and stuff in all my feelings,

and then close them up tight,

without needing to do anything with them.

I wish I had a junk drawer

for all the missing, broken parts of me

that I don’t know what to do with.

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© Jane Tawel, 2023