Understatement

I left.

I left a man, a state, a house,
dog, cat, and furniture.
I left
books and notes and an old quilt,
refinished things and things never finished
and the worst–
I left my paintings.
I left a lifetime’s accumulation of clues to who I am.
What couldn’t be forced into the suitcase, I left.
I left with a $60 cab fare,
sleep deprivation,
journals and vodka,
a small boy and a ticket.

And I laughed.