a shoebox contains what was on the dining room table in a year-plus accumulation

not the bottle caps nor burrito wrappers nor anything else that would be considered “trash”

rather the shoebox contains what might be a regrettable loss if discarded

there are many business cards with appointment reminders and receipts and addresses of good friends and incomplete poems and illustrations on index cards

and the owner of the dining room table, the sole resident of the apartment, applauds this baby step towards a sane conductance of his daily life

but knows he has merely checked in at base camp for a climb of mount kilimanjaro

but it’s something