Accounting for Cargo

Stop calling them stories.
Everyone has a rich
Account of their life and

A rich need to account
For it. But it isn’t
Personal history

In any structured sense,
Except when someone sets
Down to attempt just that.

Listen to people talk
About themselves. Listen
To how they listen more

Or less impatiently
To each other, trading
Off turns to simply gush

Information about
Themselves they find special.
Little anecdotes may

Anchor the floating boat,
But the boat’s not a tale.
It’s cargo to unload.