"Housecleaning," A Poetry Post

When we lived in government housing
my mother used to
mop the
tiled
concrete floor with
hot water, bleach and
octagon soap.

Sometimes she
used
Palmolive.

If we were out of all she would use
hot water and
lemon ammonia.

I remember watching her
fill and set out the
huge steaming bucket.

It was a big floor so she
used a big mop but she
had these small
hands.

I remember marveling that
such small hands could
reach down in such
hot water and
ring
such a big mop and
clean
such a large floor
with so
little effort.

She made housecleaning a
minute thing for us.

Anybody can
put a little bleach and
some Palmolive in a
bucket of hot water and
clean up most messes.

That was the message,
the willingness to
address
most mess.

It was the heart, however,
the heart, the soul, the mind
that proved most
complicated.

-T. D. James-Moss