I did it. Exactly as she said.
I removed everything
from my closets and drawers,
and touched each thing—
every sock, every shirt, every shoe—
and I asked them, “Do you bring me joy?”
Joy, it turns out, wears many clothes.
She likes scarves. Wide necklines.
Black pants. She loves long knit dresses
and tall leather boots. She needs
lots of sweaters and many gardening gloves.
And all the while I did it,
I did as she said, I visualized
the life I want,
which is apparently a life
in which my closet is full of black pants
and scarves and tall leather boots—
a life in which I talk to my clothes
and smile as they whisper back to me,
Joy, Joy, Joy.