Clutter
A Poetic Experiment in Language, Consciousness, and Time
Clutter is an ambitious and contemplative work of contemporary poetry composed of 432 poems written over 432 consecutive days. Each poem follows a carefully structured form, yet arises from the immediacy of lived experience-capturing the shifting impressions of daily life as they unfold in time.
Rather than focusing on a single theme, Clutter embraces multiplicity. It gathers fragments of thought, sensation, memory, and observation into a unified field, inviting the reader to consider how meaning emerges moment by moment. In a world saturated with information and experience, these poems ask: how do we remain present without becoming fragmented?
Conceived as a "monument of time," the collection explores the relationship between language, consciousness, and temporality. Through its unique structure-both sequential and reflective-the work may be read linearly or entered at any point, revealing unexpected connections across days, seasons, and states of awareness.
At once disciplined and expansive, Clutter invites the reader not only to read, but to listen-to experience the musicality of language as it moves through time. It is a meditation on attention, perception, and the evolving nature of the present moment.
Roy Dean Doughty is a poet, writer, and longtime student of the relationship between language, consciousness, and time. A lifelong practitioner of poetry as both art and discipline, he has written extensively as part of a daily contemplative practice.His work explores the intersection of lived experience, perception, and awareness, often unfolding over sustained periods of time. His poems have been featured on radio and in small press editions, and his earlier work, Clear Mo(u)rning, reflects on themes of family, memory, and loss.In addition to his literary work, Doughty has had a career in business and consulting, working with organizations in areas of ethics, leadership, and transformation. His broader body of work reflects an ongoing inquiry into the ways language shapes experience and meaning.He lives in Northern California.
