Laura Grace is a Mass Communications Major, avid gardener, poetry writer, photographer, and wife & mother of two daughters and a pet bird.

THINGS IN A BOX , Poem

My stepfather said once that

she keeps everything because

she grew up with nothing...

he was wise, but after his demise

things, and things kept piling up

walls of useless old boxes

created shadows that kept all the light

from coming in, mountains

of old photographs yellowed and wilted

with images of forgotten memories

of a life that was never lived,

she didn’t know what she was searching for

so she kept everything she found

to fill her soul with what she never had,

but those things you can’t touch...

she kept looking for answers

without asking the right questions,

she searched in all the wrong places

trash and clutter filled the spaces

of her broken heart, but with emptiness

to look inside herself no one taught her

longing for more, she kept more boxes

of promises that were never kept,

she had nothing…

but thought she could have everything

In boxes and boxes

that turned out to be empty

looking for something that she couldn’t see

found only in the calm of looking within,

she was a prisoner of her own fixation

she traded the living for the inanimation

rather to give, she became a master

at keeping

making her poorer instead of enriching her,

things in a box were never enough

to fulfill her life, but she didn’t know…

by Laura Grace

Comments

Laura Grace (author) from Tampa, Florida on August 05, 2019:

Thank you Mark for stopping by and reading my poem. Hoarding is indeed an accumulation of emptiness, a very sad illness that inspired me to write this poem.

Mark Tulin from Santa Barbara, California on August 05, 2019:

Nice, Laura. You’ve captured the emptiness of hoarding.

Laura Grace (author) from Tampa, Florida on July 27, 2019:

Thank you Shannon for your kind words, I’m so happy you stumbled upon my poem and decided to follow, means a lot.

Laura Grace (author) from Tampa, Florida on July 27, 2019:

Thank you Lorna. It is based on the scenario you described sadly inspired by the affliction suffered by a close relative.

Shannon Henry from Texas on July 27, 2019:

I opened this poem quite by accident when I bumped my phone. But wow! I'm so glad I did. Your poetry is very emotive. I don't come around HP as much as I used to, but I'm going to make sure I'm following you.

Lorna Lamon on July 27, 2019:

In reading this thought provoking poem I was reminded of people who hoard in order to fill an empty void or to protect themselves, and very often this need stems from childhood. I always enjoy reading your poems Laura.

Laura Grace (author) from Tampa, Florida on July 26, 2019:

Thank you Brenda for taking the time to read my poem.

BRENDA ARLEDGE from Washington Court House on July 26, 2019:

Such a sad poem to be searching for years but not finding the answer.

I suppose this is how a hoarder starts accumulating stuff....searching for something.

But if we all look around, we all probably have boxes filled with stuff that is meaningless, faded, and of no use to us now.

Good read.