Interim
The armchair in the living room
of the small yellow house
sidles inches to the left
perfect position to hide a dusty footprint
knowing that
the dust mop
will take care of it tomorrow –
it’s tonight we need to worry about
12/7/22
7 thoughts on “Interim”
Comments are closed.
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 
Very mysterious! I feel like this is a story that could go in lots of different directions.
Thank you. I give myself a bit of a frisson thinking of what happens next (which is kind of bizarre since I wrote it myself, surely I know what is happening…no I don’t!)
You’re welcome.
I write things all the time and have no idea what will happen next. 😄
Ha! Yes, the dust can always wait. It’s just going to return anyway. This poem reminds me of when my kids were very little and generated so much household clutter. I would shove things into cupboards and storage boxes and throw the big things into non-public rooms in the house in order to make things guest-ready. All of the mess and chaos was still there but it was concealed behind a façade. Why do we feel the need to have everything neat as a pin just so people can visit and wreck everything anyway? I drive myself nuts with this mindset.
I don’t know why we do it, but I am with you. I think I feel, especially as I get older because when I was younger I know I was so much messier, that if my home and surroundings are in order, I feel more in order myself. I only hope I don’t cross the line into being the dreaded “set in her ways”.
I totally agree with you about my headspace feeling more ordered when my physical space is also clean and tidy. I have been trying to impart that wisdom to my messy teens but they have not yet learned the lesson.
I remember that the keeping things orderly idea did not happen for me until I had my own apartment. Suddenly, it all made sense, I guess because it was all my own .