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I started by trashing the clutter
of papers on my desk and floor and shelves
that had outlived their currency
papers you put down not knowing at the moment
what to do with them ignored memos old
class lists and stacks of extra handouts a pile
of advisee folders names without faces mostly
and the books I once thought important I put
on a table outside my office offered
to students and colleagues
who would put them on their shelves
and the contents of my filing cabinets notes
student evaluations contracts dating to 88
and materials mostly obsolete and had been
for years and were definitely obsolete now
I transferred in great handfuls to the recycle bins
in the hall and I pulled out the agglomeration
from my desk drawers and laid it all out a history
in pens and pencils old grade books keys
to unknown doors a thousand pulled staples
a handful of rotted rubber bands cords
from archaic computers three iterations
of business cards bearing outdated college logos
and former ranks of assistant or associate professor
four five-and-a-half inch floppies with names
like "files" and "more files" and in an act of liberation
I scraped all of this into a black plastic trash can
the odd book I wanted to keep along with
my bust of Bach and a vase I boxed and loaded
into my van and after a few days of this
my old office was empty I turned out the lights
stepped into the hall turned to notice my name
had already been removed from the door