Years of bills, receipts, accounts,
Dusty stacks of assorted papers
Rustle like dry autumn leaves
As I feed them to a hungry shredder:
Devoured, disfigured, disappeared.

What about my crumpled dreams?
Could I stuff them into the shredder?
My crippled impotent thoughts,
Rotten hopes, spotted with mildew?
Shred them to bits, greedy chomper!

Devoured, disfigured, disappeared —
Relief, rebirth, renewal
Or end, emptiness, eradication?
And what if the shredder gets sick?
Disgusting. Forget the renewal.
Paper, I’ll give it more paper.