Unpacking by Martin Willitts Jr.

"We are creations’/property, its particles, its clay” — Jane Kenyon, Winter Lambs

During the past three days, we unpacked

what we do not need. One life is gone.

Now we are selling what belonged

and what is left behind.  Some is of little value, 

even to a garage sale for a dime. 

We give up what we have accumulated

over life. We leave behind a body

and it will break into particles,

combine with light and dust. 

We return to red clay, earthward-bound, 

merge with grass and nitrates,  

unpacking one life for another. 

Someone will miss us, 

opening battered suitcases of memories.

They will open the latch 

whenever they need it, and it begins again —

all of this coming and going. 

Martin Willitts Jr is a retired Librarian. His poems appeared in Blue Fifth, Centrifugal Eye, Stone Canoe, Kentucky Review, Poppy Road Review, and many others. He has 11 full-length collections including "How to Be Silent" (FutureCycle Press, 2016) and forthcoming "Dylan Thomas and the Writer Shed" (FutureCycle Press, 2017).