terrypetersen

Cleaning anything involves making something else dirty, but anything can get dirty without something else getting clean. (Laurence J. Peter)

Maple syrup spilled

in the back of my refrigerator.

As I scrub, beeps sound

a warning. Close the door. Now.

A fridge’s chill skill weakens

when heated air threatens its territory.

Maple goo has attacked a jar of pickles

This won’t take long, I hope.

I scrub, giving no anesthesia to mechanical

cries. Yet when I wait on hold

for three-calls-ahead

at my local pharmacy

during a pandemic rage,

I sometimes sigh and pace, as if

the workload of a short-staffed drugstore didn’t exist.

I have an agenda. Twenty-six hours forced into twenty-four.

A bit at a time, I say to the fridge

opened for briefer moments.

A more intensive task comes next.

Removing stickiness inside me.