Decomposition
I hate when a notebook ends
It’s like a detour in the road
when I don’t know the alternate route
If a notebook was a casket
I would recite the best parts
and read a funeral eulogy
before I closed the cover
I would bury it in my yard
like a dog buries a bone
then forgets to dig it up
and moves on
It fills up too fast
like your child grows up
like your teenaged grandchild
resists your affection
An old journal’s like a closet
for all your favorite outfits
mixed in with all the misfits
that only take up space
A new journal is stiff
like tight clothes that don’t fit
because one size will never fit all
and they only make has-been
high-rise jeans now
______________Colleen Redman / Poets and Storytellers United
August 26th, 2022 12:25 am
A funeral eulogy for a finished notebook sounds right… I write on my laptop, so I don’t know how to bid goodbye to all those files of drafts and junk no longer used, never to be finished or posted. There must be a proper ritual….!
August 26th, 2022 3:01 am
Oh, you’re so right!
I have many old notebooks buried, not in my yard but in boxes in the garage. I have fantasies that I will mine them for poems or memoir, one day – but I doubt it’s possible to live long enough, particularly as I haven’t even made a start!
August 26th, 2022 8:42 am
I write both in notebooks and on the computer. The notebooks aren’t journals like they used to be, more like working notebooks to catch all the scraps and bits and work things out.
August 26th, 2022 8:55 am
Nicely expressed, Colleen. There’s a certain awkwardness to old journals, indeed. When I’ve looked at some of my earlier writings and thoughts, sometimes I wonder and am uncomfortable at the depth of my feelings at the time.
August 26th, 2022 9:11 am
I love the sweet whimsy of this–and also how it’s so relatable! This was such a treat to read.
August 26th, 2022 12:09 pm
I don’t know what to do with mine. I imagine I’ll burn them but I’ll hate it because the journals are so pretty.
August 26th, 2022 7:00 pm
I Love this! My favorite? Journal like a closet !!!! Cheers.
August 27th, 2022 11:53 pm
I like to dig up my old notebooks and browse for a bit. Gnaw for a taste–do buried dog bones still have a taste?
August 28th, 2022 12:11 am
Murder She Wrote with Jessica Fletcher comes on the Hallmark Movie Channel and also now on Ovation. Both play old situation story programs and movies.
..
August 28th, 2022 3:20 am
I too use a notebook to catch all the scraps and bits that come along the way. Also there are good poems that sprout from the bits and scraps. I can relate to your poem. I want to throw them away, but it seems like throwing away part of my life, so i am keeping them in boxes at the moment. Maybe one day. 🙂
August 28th, 2022 4:56 pm
Such a thoughtful insightful poem. I absolutely love the last two stanzas especially 🙂
August 29th, 2022 8:40 pm
I love the differences in old and new journals.
Also like the idea of a eulogy before closing the cover.
August 31st, 2022 9:10 am
With life and people and jeans, one definitely does not fit all. There is so much searching and adjusting involved, isn’t there? And sometimes, not even that makes things just right.