holy orders
it may be possible
that i hate cleaning
more than any man or woman alive
the precious hours wasted
on the dishonest industry of this activity
wasted on mopping coffee stains off of floors
and sweeping dusty rugs
wiping down cabinets with caked hardened food
scouring the wine and beer stains
off of coffee tables and nightstands
chasing mounds and mounds of cat fur
around the apartment
it is an insane loss of time
calculating the time spent picking up bread crumbs
or scrubbing toilets of piss and shit residue
when we could be drinking or fucking or learning
getting a contact high
off of the scent of ajax and ammonia
aromas that will not leave
the tips of the fingers no matter how often you wash
it is indecent for any hard working
man or woman
to spend a moment of their free time this way
but most of us do it willingly and without complaint
because we are boring, well-trained creatures of habit
who never know when a good friend may stop in to judge us
floundering in our natural habitat
when i was younger
i watched my mother kill weekends
slaving over carpets and kitchen
while i read or watched the tv and tried ignoring her
my mother crying to a house full of men
that she was doing it all for us
when no one asked her to do so
and there was nary a visitor in sight
i think of all of my mother’s lost weekends
while scrubbing food grime off of the oven
the grease and grit of life that i don’t really mind
that are more of my mark being here on this planet
than anything else that i’ve done to date
i think of my poor put-on mother and her tears
or the nun in catholic school
who looked at my stained dress shirts and muddied pants
with such venom
who told me the grand cliché
that cleanliness was next to godliness
as if she were receiving holy orders
the one who got so mad at my constant pollution
that she one day tipped my desk over
in front of all of those eager and clean students
spilling the contents everywhere
telling me to leave it as an example
for everyone to see
before she went back to a religious lesson
on christ’s kindness
and his inherent patience for all of mankind.
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