The Hoarder

This can of Lynx deodorant will be a collector’s item someday

I tell my father

He doesn’t believe me, but nor do I really

Particularly since the can is nearly empty

Lynx “Musk”, sounds horrible and is horrible

Can’t believe I sprayed it on me

I hoard everything.

Some things are useful, interesting

Like the weird toys I used to have

Politically incorrect, violent,

With plenty of lead and small parts for choking on

Some quirky gadgets

No longer made, or now made simpler, to save production costs

Other things are completely useless:

a bicycle speedometer without a cable

school copies from when I was 7

(though they do explain why my writing is so terrible now)

a bicycle light without a bracket

spent light bulbs from my first car!

My first pre-car, pre- because it never got restored

Sitting there, 10 years later, slowly rotting.

I hoard text messages.

My diary

Real-time two-way conversations

Not my interpretations, the truth

Albeit truth condensed into 160 characters:

It is really hard to get some emotions across in this little text

Without having to use a second text message

That would be far to costly

And really just not worth it

No emotn wud b wrth dat much

(156, phew!)

I now have several thousand, several years of text messages

Someday I will read them.

I hoard everything.

Maybe when I’m old

I will look back on my hoards

My material memories

I will gather these pieces together

pieces of the puzzle of life

that I have collected over my life

Tangible physical glimpses of the past

Cobwebbed by later ones

Cobwebs that can be cleared

As I rummage through them, I will discover other ones too

And start a cascade of awakening memories

Long neglected by lazy brain cells

Maybe the can of Lynx will remind me of the time

I used it all up before going to my first disco…just in case.

I will gather the pieces together

Who knows, I might then understand the puzzle.

08.01.08