Curated Clutter

What is before me?
Clutter.

I scoot my laptop away to make
room for pen on paper.
Yarn, olive green cotton, awaits
its next project.
A blue half-knitted hat 
yearns for completion; 
forgotten under the 
new ball of green.
A scattering of crochet hooks
with identifiers too small
to see with blurry vision
rest side by side, poking
their necks out from 
under the laptop.

Glasses, not the ones upon
my nose but the brown ones -
cheap and non-prescriptive - 
offer backup as they lay
adjacent to the coordinating 
tortoise-shell hair clasp that
is also considered backup
when preferred flowing 
tresses simply get in the way.

A thick pad of functionally lined
Post-It's hold the right corner of
the laptop to keep it level with
the raised edges of the table.

So many objects-in-waiting
within arm's reach to satisfy
function and desire; assisting
the need for order or feeding
my creative impulses.
Or both.

Scattered before me the
curated clutter defines my 
small work table most days.
My eye catches the notes
and numbers indicating
income and expenses
anticipated for the month,
reminding me that most of
the wares are good enough. 
I really don't need more.

But how can one cap ideas,
creative yearnings, or 
the need for more yarn?
The work table is small.
It knows its limits and 
can only hold so much.
But I am a master of
curated clutter, of 
finding new surfaces
and baskets and bins
to carry out my 
ever-evolving impulses
for creativity and order. 
​And always more yarn.