things in my apartment

i am a gift giver for the same reason

i do not like to receive my own

the physical reminders of the people

who leave must stay or take the effort

to be removed, burned, donated, sold,

whatever it takes to get the things away from me

but my god do i love to leave

that problem behind for those who go

or those i left or will;

the joy in the moment is something

but it feels so much better knowing

what happens once i'm gone:

books on your shelf, the stickers on your laptop,

you'll never look at chocolate the same,

and i say no i don't like getting gifts

because i know what comes with that

getting gifts means throwing out three-foot

stuffed bears that barely fit in a trash bag,

tripping over fake champagne bottles

of bubble bath that i can't bring myself to move

or use, filling cardboard boxes with things i loved

that i'll never open again once

the packing tape goes on

no i won't be reminded

i won't leave up posters

i won't keep using the brita

i won't find the sticky note inserted

in that book's pages three months later

i won't be forced to keep the ghost of you

or of anyone else who couldn't stay

i didn't want that stolen bar glass in the first place

and i don't need these things

in my apartment