there is a time to keep,
and a time to throw away:
theatre programs
ticket stubs
dead plants
math tests
All articles filed in time

for the keeping
i found our younger selves today tucked away
in a box in a corner of the basement,
the you of then not even ten years older
than the me of now.
time in the essence
all day yesterday i thought it was tomorrow
because my watch’s day-of-the-month counter
had skipped ahead when i wasn’t looking.
japanese iris
this afternoon i have been digging the japanese iris out of the vegetable garden
and stuffing the muddy rhizomes into grocery sacks in preparation
for the making of their new bed