A To Z

Lever Arch File

Can everything be made to go
from A to Z?
Is any single word
just one thing ready
to be slotted in?

Take loss like a pack
of wolves, only held together
by their howls , their savage teeth
and need to bring me down.

Does that go under you
or wolf or loneliness
or madness as I slam it in
my flailing mind -
that cupboard without a door?

Take life story which is a web
of words once strung out by
your mood, your memory,
an impish take on truth.
Do finished stories go untold?

Take thoughts hidden under curios
in your glass-fronted cabinet,
tossed in the hard-bound notebooks
piled on your brooding desk.
How can I file your thoughts?

Take sorting the lever arch file
and finding that first photo of me
under L when my name starts
with J and I’ll never know what
L stood for – lass, love, liar, lousy lay –
you’ve left me unsorted.