$10,000
moving an entire house.
things that have traveled with you
for forty years.
in nooks and crannies and drawers
and closets.
in boxes
and bags at the bottom of cabinets,
inside of closets.
it costs ten thousand dollars
to change the ground
beneath my things.
how.
can anybody move their things
when their things cost ten thousand dollars
to move.
there are no movers.
ten thousand dollars to secure a smaller home
and move everything yourself
because there’s no money left.
the money is gone.
the money went to heaven
and natural gas and the lawn
and the phones
and ice cream sandwiches.
I think a hundred and fifty dollars
vanishes from my bank account every day
without telling me where it went.
you needed damage deposit
and first month’s rent
but you overlapped the month
so in two weeks after you move in
you pay again.
you inventory.
you catalog.
you make the list because the list
is the thing you can do
when the doing
becomes too much to do.
the smaller home has no room
for their forgotten things.
so you throw their childhood things away
to make room for “what’s important”
and you understand
that this is the opposite
of what you have done
for the last twenty-five years.
emptying my desk.
my writing desk.
the books.
the scripts were written on a laptop
that sat on top of it.
the desk itself held
calendars and notes
and pencils.
thousands of pencils.
every drawer a dig site.
every pencil a day
I chose to sit down
and do the thing.
I get to the bottom
and I find
my name
in red —
k e l l y
in a child’s handwriting.
judging by the age of this desk
it was my youngest daughter.
she must have barely known
how to write.
or read.
she chose to write my name
in red
at the bottom of this desk
over a decade ago.
I sat on the floor.
I have nothing left.
I have everything.
it cost me ten thousand dollars
to find it.
I would have paid more.



Gorgeous! You know - they tore down Klump to put up a mega mansion and I forgot about all the things I had in the garage:) Gone...But you know what? It's ok. You really only need one good thing. To help you remember. xxxxx
Beautiful.
Having moved a few times in the last decade, that first move after many years is truly an archaeological dig.
The sound of tape guns still triggers me.