Removal Day

We take up the pen
to deconstruct our psychic comfort
and use it like a broom
to sweep the dust
from forgotten corners
into the centre of the room.

So much is stored in boxes,
taped shut and packed away
on out of reach shelves
until removal day comes round
and words break the seal
of abandonment.

And ink will get under our nails
as we fill the page with memories
we take with us, and fingers ache
to let go of the old wounds
that possess us, until we learn
to leave them behind.



Izy Gruye invites us to Chew Through Your Own Chains, my first choice for Play It Again! with Real Toads. I have been a teacher since the age of 21, and I love my job but a task I do not enjoy is moving house, but I guess we poets are in the removal business.

Izy, we met in 2010 - a different online space and time - and we have weathered change, distance and the ebb and flow of the online world of poetry blogging. I do hope we will continue to remain in touch in the years to come.