The Big Move
by Rick Blum
Today, I won’t be scouring our oversized, overstuffed house
for cherished knick-knacks and gimcracks that have
– over the last 30 years – attached themselves to our lives
like crusty barnacles on the Mayflower
I’m not going to sort through a Vesuvius of clothes
– fermenting in the attic since our post-teenagers were toddlers –
to be tossed into black trash bags marked either
Keep or Goodwill
Nor will I drag out long forgotten dishes, moldy fish tanks,
or rickety Papasan chairs needing to be cleaned
and photographed, then posted on Craig’s List
at prices guaranteed to attract ravenous bargain hunters
And hauling two-wheeled tricycles, faded fairy-tale princess
accessories and one-piece-short jigsaw puzzles to the dump
is totally off this day’s to-do list, as is touching-up
the scuffed baseboards my wheelchair has kissed far too often
Instead, I’ll break last night’s fast with old friends
Dilbert and Doonesbury, then catch up on email,
fiddle with Facebook, and, maybe, google
“Papasan chair origin” just out of curiosity
Later, when the minutes start to stretch into endlessness,
I may try to infuse the loveliness of my wheelchair enforced,
leisurely life into simple verses, which I will massage
and remassage and remassage again, until every last descriptor,
every metaphor, every alliterative edifice is poetically perfect
…and a complete lie
© Rick Blum 2016
IMAGE: Papasan chair
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: This poem was written in the days between accepting an offer for our house of 30 years and moving day. Being confined to a wheelchair, I was unable to be much help in the packing process, which sounds wonderful, until you have no other choice, which is what I tried to describe here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rick Blum has been chronicling life’s vagaries through essays and poetry for more than 25 years during stints as a nightclub owner, high-tech manager, market research mogul, and, most recently, alter kaker. His writings have appeared in Boston Literary Magazine, Thought Notebook Journal, and Leannán, among others. He is also a frequent contributor to the Humor Times, and has been published in numerous poetry anthologies. Mr. Blum’s poem, “The Inertia of Permanence,” was awarded first place in the 2014 Carlisle Poetry Contest. His poem, “Tomfoolery,” received honorable mention in The Boston Globe Deflategate poetry challenge.
Silver Birch Press 