Saturday Housekeeping
I scatter grains with feathers. Tom and Viv
pursue the artificial wing and scratch
it when I slow. The vacuum frightens them.
They skitter to the safest seeming spots
they've found, watch warily and wait
for motes and whines to settle. Feathers, fans
and filters rearrange the week's worth
of dust. They never capture all of it
but I pretend again I've kept the prairie
out, have battled back the smoke and dirt
that, particle by particle, will bury
me. Throughout the city, thousands do.
pursue the artificial wing and scratch
it when I slow. The vacuum frightens them.
They skitter to the safest seeming spots
they've found, watch warily and wait
for motes and whines to settle. Feathers, fans
and filters rearrange the week's worth
of dust. They never capture all of it
but I pretend again I've kept the prairie
out, have battled back the smoke and dirt
that, particle by particle, will bury
me. Throughout the city, thousands do.
This poems does move, that's for sure. Very visual. Now I have to go clean :>) Thank you.
Maybe this is why archeologists always have to excavate. If you stop with the filters, feathers and fans, in a century or so the whole house will be underground.
Lxx
The poet vacuums. Nice emotional payoff. Good things come in smasll packages
I like the seemingly simple, ordinariness of this piece, and the grander sweeping statement at the end. Cleaning seems so small and trivial until it goes undone. Great work here.
The clumps of cat hair are the worst. *
Tom and Viv sound a lot like my pets.*
Good music in the lines, Gary. Especially stanza 2.
Such a great moment: "have battled back the smoke and dirt / that, particle by particle, will bury / me."
Nice. Good writing.
The resignation in the last line sounds so true.
Tom and Viv!Where are Scott and Zelda?
*
Thanks everyone for reading and responding. I am much obliged.
I enjoyed this. It might even make cleaning today seem to have some larger significance. Thanks.
Great ode to a Saturday ritual. *
Much to like, Gary. Partial to the second, but all three very good. *
"they never capture all of it / but I pretend again I've kept the prairie / out"
So right! Cleanliness is next to pretense.
Tom and Viv! Even better than Rocky's Cuff and Link.
A perfect ending. It connects the personal act of cleaning to broader human acts of urbanization.
Thank you, Carly, Brenda, Foster, Bill, and Elizabeth. Good housekeeping!
Tom and viv -great names for......cats? Little bits of life make the best poetry. Sweet.
thanks, Charlotte.