Twenty-first century clutter traps me
fills my time and in a daze my days disappear
–what with Facebook Twitter Email Facetime YouTube
Wikipedia Blogs Podcasts Texting IM Instagram.
Twentieth century paper clutter still around still abounds
mail delivered daily: donation pleas, advertising come-ons
– tossed out
magazines mailed monthly: AARP, Southern Poverty Law Center and more
– kept in baskets
handouts from: poetry readings, classes, events, workshops
– kept in files
(like my emails, maybe to read or to need later).

Yet in my house there are books
on shelves
on tables
on night-stands

many old
a few new
some from the library
some from friends

with their solid feel
and their sometimes temporary status
– I read them now
(unlike my Kindle, its electronic books unread).

Books in the twenty-first century are
unique a treat rare

and when I curl up in a chair
and hold a book
and feel the paper
and turn its pages

when I read and reread and mark parts I love
with sticky notes or paperclips or highlighting
or when I underline

my life is spacious and slow

in the old-fashioned twentieth century way.