this week a man at Costco commented
as I ripped a U-turn with my big cart
to avoid collision with him and another
you know how to drive, he said
I take my time in cavernous big shop spaces
but I’m focused on getting out too
what I need vs what wants to come along
this is the dilemma
one of many
in the land of plenty
a place I am grateful to inhabit
but wary of its wiles and beckonings too
the pull of acquisition stirs
good price oh nice might need so pretty—
this day I didn’t succumb
my U-turn was not to circle back
return some object I didn’t come to buy
to a shelf in an aisle stacked strategically
with merch for the uncontrolled
half a life, maybe more, to comprehend
the deft nature of marketing allure
to acquire discipline
the value of resistance to getting more
than I came for
I don’t mean to mislead
to feign immunity to gathering stuff
I’m a junk store treasure forager
a button and stone collector
a loose string puller
a fallen feather rescuer
an adopter of artworks by unknowns
a reacher for electronics and shiny odds
I regularly check those cardboard boxes left
on boulevards with invitations that read
FREE propped against them
the hints of who is this wanderer
how I see, think, have been
have come to be
what amazes, comforts, pleases
all around exist these extensions of me
After my wake, there can be an auction
pieces of my collected assemblage
redistributed
arranged according to others’ penchants
proceeds to benefit the curious future~
