For day 9 of NaPoWriMo, the suggestion was to write a poem inspired by one of the lists in Sei Shounagon’s Pillow Book.
Things That Hide Under Your Bed
Stray socks, uncharted hills of dust,
spiders waiting to clear away
the spoils of Sunday breakfasts,
lost pen caps, found trinkets,
temptations never acted on,
a spare pair of slippers –
when uninhabited by home guests,
maybe-friends, and sometimes-lovers –
a smattering of good intentions
corrupted by bad habits,
that one book you’ll never finish,
nights wasted worrying
about all the urgent things
that don’t matter.
Encyclopaedia Vanitatum 