Looking at Homes

I gather the discarded items here
Sort them and stack them and put them in piles
Suggest a high price for keepsakes so dear
Remembering the events brings back smiles
Thoughts of birthdays and Christmases long past
Lost in the memories of happier days
Of family and children who grew up fast
With crayons, baseball, and parts in school plays
I’m hurried and rushed but no more delays

I’m hurried and rushed but no more delays
The closets and kitchen are sorted out
The auction will start at morning’s first rays
China and glassware are scattered about
Hand tatted lace and embroidered bed sheets
I’ve packed up suitcases with things to keep
Including my bed and a pair of seats
Tomorrow the lot will be purchased cheap
What isn’t sold will go to the scrapheap

What isn’t sold will go to the scrapheap
Decluttered, divested no baggage claimed
In a new home tonight I will find sleep
I hold onto that family picture framed
It isn’t as hard as facing down death
We’re all alone and the house was too big
Less muss and fuss when I take my last breath
I’m wasting away, my arm’s like a twig
A discarded person my grave they dig

This is a poem written as a Novelinee. It was created by Sarah Rayburn as a derivative of the Spenserian stanza. It consists of at least one 9 line stanza written in iambic pentameter or with decasyllabic (10 syllable) lines. The rhyme scheme is a/b/a/b/c/d/c/d/d. When more than one stanza is used the last line of the preceding stanza becomes the first line of the following stanza. If you have more than one stanza the last line of the last stanza is a derivative of the very first stanza of the poem. (It sounds so much harder than it really is to write!)

As for the content. Well, Sparky’s parents are thinking of moving into assisted living. His father is hoping sooner rather than later. They are nearing 90 and the condo is getting hard for them to maintain even if there is no outside maintenance. They have started the sorting and paring down of the household. Sparky’s dad seems not to have any strong attachments to things he owns. It is his mother who is struggling with the letting go. She has started asking if there is any one thing that each of her children would want. But those things are easy to part with – she knows that they will be cherished. It is the little things, like her collection of little glass pigs, her favorite wooden spoon, the magazine holder, and all the paintings on the walls. For the last 3 months she has been sorting photographs into piles on the dining room table. The process has now moved to putting them in photo albums. The place that is highest on the list will provide a bedroom, living room and bath. That would mean they have to get rid of 3 rooms of furniture and all their kitchen stuff. It is a very hard process.

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