Decluttering as a Therapy for the Mind
A freeverse poem
The layer of soot on top of the shelf
reminds me of undivided labour, a silent resident at my house.
I have always observed women cleaning the house.
Sweat-soaked women.
Women who traded their identities
to keep their homes un-cobwebbed,
while the men gandered talking gaily about things that didn’t matter.
I now know why women decluttered, washed, and cleansed.
In doing so, they were preserving the sanctity of their minds.
Their raging minds, warehouses of hurt and all of its synonyms.
I scrub all the corners and wedges, much like scraping the shadows
of all my charred dreams that I am no longer regretting about.
I discard bits of unwanted paper, empty medicine strips,
and other remnants of laziness.
My mind also discards the part of me that clung to despair.
With each swish of the rag cloth, I floss out the mocks, gossip,
and unsolicited opinions of the people I meet at work.
By the end of the session, I have rummaged enough
into the unvisited passageways of my brain
and discover that I’m truly liberated.
Decluttering is indeed an introspective therapy.
~Kavya Janani. U
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You can read my other freeverse poetry here: Freeverse Poetry by Kavya Janani. U