Does it bring you joy? Marie Kondo* asks.
 
To keep itchy wool sweaters,
wedding gifts from my first marriage,
greeting cards from people who may be dead
since we last spoke, forty years ago.
 
Does it bring me joy?
 
To hunt through ten knives
for one slotted spoon?
 
To spend ten minutes
searching for a blouse
hidden inside another?
 
The answer is obvious.
The solution not as easy
as Marie Kondo suggests.
 
How do I thank
the frosted glass platter
for the two times it was useful
and let go of the fear
I might need it one more time?
 
Does it bring me joy?
 
To box up my past
and carry it out of the clutter
I’ve hoarded for years?


© by Jacqueline Jules.
Used here with the author’s permission.

*A consultant and author of several books about organizing and decluttering