Space (on the page)

I can waste time. I can also waste space. When I waste time, Netflix is the distraction of choice. Queer Eye launched its new season last week. I appreciate their combination of pause, practicality and beauty. "Your house must hold your past, but also make space for the future." The warm smile of their design expert matches the comfort of the fires my dad feeds with my papers.

After the pages are burned, I summarize my sifting through the boxes in my closet.  My dad sometimes asks me if I've noticed what was in the bag.  He wonders if I meant to put it there.  I did.  I do.  I know these things about myself already, and if I need reminders, there are better ways.

Books say: she did this because.

Someone who had dreams and questions.

Life says: she did this.

Someone who was a high achiever

And doubter of her abilities.

Books are where things are explained to you;

Someone who believes her talents and experiences

Go unheard and unseen.

Life is where things aren't.**

Except the weight of the papers are only a portion of her impact.

I was often reminded in critique circles that there is only so much room on the page. Between the papers, is both care and the dirt and dust of forgetting.  Where I hadn't bothered to look before, the space between a few simple lines.  After the smoke cleared, I inhaled the air that always belonged to me, the space to form my words, more easily.  

**Julian Barnes was a prolific writer and also a translator. Themes from his writing include: history, reality, truth and love.  Other words generated by AI include revolve around transition:  innocence to experience, from youth to age, from infatuation to weariness..