Packing

There is something
Exciting
About folding clothes into rectangles
Or rolling pants and shirts into burritos --
As any pro will tell you, it is the one true way

It's not just the adventure
Awaiting
That flight or cruise or road trip
Lingering just on the other side of a teeth-clenched zipper

There is something in the act
Comforting
To know
That all of what you need
Can be carried
Or bought
Or bartered for along the way
Those extra shoes that have 400 miles left on them
That one sweatshirt that would be your final holdout
Before selling the farm

Unpacking has a different flavor
Chamomile
Perhaps comes close
When all is laid out
Like a flea market
Or mid-century bazaar
One must ask
This is what you brought?
--
9.27.13
1 of 4 final poems