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Does It Bring You Joy?
by
Jacqueline Jules


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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

 

 


Jacqueline Jules is a former librarian who found herself intrigued by almost every book she put on the shelf.  As a reader and as a writer, she doesn’t restrict herself to one genre. She is the author of 50 books for young readers on a wide variety of topics, including two poetry books for young readers, Tag Your Dreams: Poems of Play and Persistence (Albert Whitman, 2020), and Smoke at the Pentagon: Poems to Remember (Bushel & Peck, 2023). Jacqueline is also the author of four poetry books for adults, including a collection of biblically inspired poems, Manna in the Morning (Kelsay Books, 2021). After 26 years in Virginia, she moved to Long Island to be closer to her grandchildren. Learn more about her at www.jacquelinejules.com.

                                        

 

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Post New Comment:
Anastasia:
I find great joy in letting things goit's a psychological relief. If there's too much stuff in my space, it's hard for me to function, so I keep everything in cabinets. My husband is one of those "out of sight, out of mind" people, so he needs everything where he can see it. It's never dull at our house!
Posted 12/13/2021 02:18 PM
Lori Levy:
Great poetic response to Marie Kondo.
Posted 12/10/2021 08:39 PM
Janet Leahy:
Yes it all brings me joy . . . but I must give some of the joy away, maybe next week of next month.
Posted 12/10/2021 10:00 AM


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