Yesterday, I finally got to straighten out the mess that my bookshelves had become. Then I wrote this poem and drew the accompanying picture.

 

 

The Books Were On My Mind, a computer drawing by Harry Kottler

 

The Books Are No Longer

On My Mind

 

by Harry Kottler

 

 

When you’ve lived someplace a while

And reading a lot is your style.

The books you read may not be filed

In any recognizable order.

 

This, in fact, was our position,

But today I made a firm decision

To clean up this extreme book collision

And get our bookcases in order.

 

I dumped the books I no longer use

And put the ones I use in view.

I rearranged the books anew

So I’d know where to find them.

 

Now I’ve got a few more tasks.

“Get your written work straightened,” myself I ask,

“And do not let too much time pass

Before you straighten up your school papers.”

 

I’ve found that when I straighten up,

My mind. itself, gets cleared of stuff,

But it only happens when I get enough

Time that I proceed.

 

Helen asked, “Why did you do it today?”

“I’m tired because we flew home yesterday,”

““I had to do it,” I had to say,

“Because it had been on my mind for months.”

 

And today I really had the time,

So the books are no longer on my mind.

Soon, over the refrigerator I will climb

To get my written work in the cabinets there together.

 

 

……..

http://harryandhelen.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/09/the-books-are-no-longer-on-my-mind.htm