Only Need One

an assortment of unsanitary skulls,

desiccated insects, and

lifeless, colorless lichens

          laid in neatly folded, labeled packets

          must be 50 of those

upwards of 30 corks

     some cork

     some plastic

          going to make something

          with those someday

26 rewriteable CDs

erased 6 years ago

          duly noted on the sticky note

          stuck to each and every case

7 pictures of the

          same dead dog

          same shot

6 shabby spiral notebooks

     lines faded

     edges yellowed

     many pages previously removed

     out of frugality

          note to self:

          I never reuse old spiral notebooks

5 shots of the other dead dog

          enlarged and cropped

          variously

4 crumbling rubber bands

3 stacks of get well cards from students

          have i been sick that long

          so often?

2 broken watches

          both telling

          that it's time to

only need one

of each

if that.