For the dverse prompt, a list of sorts.

Lists are hateful, exclusive, restrictive and infuriating. We make them and never stick to them, forget them, leave them in the shopping trolley, half-finish them, ignore them, despise them, crumple them up and throw them in the bin.

We list names and find them, arrest them, deport them; we make more lists of their belongings, and we steal them, sell them. Lists are data, they are what we are, define us, confine us, denounce and betray us, sell us and buy us.

The first man who, in the back of the cave, painted the first list of galloping horses, trotting deer and rootling pigs was the ancestor of our enslavement.

stars in the firmament

bird in the bush

dog in the manger

pig in clover

just a few of my favourite things