refuse in a single church
Janet Kuypers
started 01/13/11, finished 01/20/11
(with adapted lines from Packing and Russians at a Garage Sale)
walked into a church one Saturday
when all the property on their land
was converted for a weekend rummage sale
churchgoers donated their belongings
their refuse, the things they didn’t want anymore
got their tax forms from the church
so their acts of kindness
won’t cost them so much
and there were rows and rows of trinkets
half an aisle of appliances, half an aisle of glassware
someone would pick up a wine glass. “how much?”
“twenty-five cents.” “how about ten?”
“how much for this iron?” one would ask.
a church lady would answer, “four dollars.”
“fifty cents?” “no.”
someone would point at the iron, a toaster,
a blender. “all for a dollar?” “no.”
And I thought, hmmm,
as I looked at the appliances
and thought about the appliances I donated
to a church for their annual rummage sale last year.
half the place had hanging clothes
and there were grocery bags available at the front
“fill a bag with clothes for two dollars”
hmmm, maybe I’ll look for men’s button-down shirts
look for anything like a classic white shirt
but of course, those were never donated
this is everyone’s refuse
rows of dresses, pairs of shoes,
pairs of shorts, shirts, loneliness,
anger, belts, jewelry, extra socks
and I thought:
it’s amazing how much refuse
you can find in a single church
Copyright © 2011 Janet Kuypers.
All rights reserved. No material
may be reprinted without express permission.
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