his wife was complaining about all his stuff in the attic
he reluctantly decided to go through all the old boxes
stuff that had been put away for years
obviously not needed but for some reason never been discarded
he sifted through the contents of the first small box
a tin box full of foreign coins
memories of his traveling days flooded back
places he had visited on business trips and vacations
images flashed through his mind for each coin he touched
an old watch that no longer worked
it was of no value except it belonged to his father
he wound it up and it started to tick
he could hear his father’s voice again
he missed him so much
a notebook from many years ago
containing wish lists of things to do and places to see
they had written it when first married
he read off each item slowly
pausing to recall the joys of each achieved wish
trying to remember why some never happened
bunches of keys from previous dwellings
he held a front door key tightly
remembering opening that door many years ago
seeing his young children run to greet him
they are grown now with kids of their own
a big old bulky calculator he used in college
reliving the hours he spent solving problems with that
the stressful times of exams
he could remember all those long hours of study
he did find some bits and broken pieces
and a collection of old pens and pencils
he carefully put them in a paper bag
before closing the box
he had removed less than ten percent of the contents
over dinner that night his wife cornered him asking if he had cleaned out everything in the attic as promised
he hesitated before saying he had cleared some of it from one small box
she pushed him harder wanting to know why he was keeping all that junk
he insisted that it might be a small box of stuff but it contained a lifetime of great memories
she could see he was getting upset and gave him a big hug
whispering to him softly “I am so sorry, please keep your boxes full of memories”
he replied “thanks, I did clear some space for us to make a few more memories”
Cheeky Monkey Poetry 