A place for everything?

I'm always fascinated by type boxes and toolboxes, like that amazing toolbox in Toy Story 2. Such organization—everything needed is in its place and easy to find—a mastery of gadgets.

I need a toolbox like that for ideas—a place to stow all the little sayings I try to say to myself when I'm about to make a bad choice or slip into depression or self-pity or general whining, and a place to stow all the good writing tips I've heard or read—like the image of the rooms in a house from Mark Doty's workshop last Saturday or the idea that creating a poem can be like playing a game of concentration—and a place to store all the things that I want to write about.

Sure, I can put all these ideas on my computer, and most of them are here (and some are in spiral-bound notebooks, to be found in the future or not). But I love the idea of a box that I can open, shelves and compartments, and a way to pick up each thought, hold it for a while, turn it over until it becomes something new or goes back into the box—where I’ll be able to find it again when I’m ready.

Photo and box by Jane Chang.