with understanding why we eliminate ourselves in our poems. It's honest. Is it because confessional is not acceptable? Linda Pastan, Ted Kooser, Ellen Bass do it in poems that are not merely descriptive. This poem, The Mop, has pronouns, personal pronouns, but I thought I'd lose the heart of the poem if I did not include myself. Soooo, here it is. I'm all ears to whatever you have to say. I need your help, your input. Thanks, Pat
The Mop
There is no way
to find holiness in a mop,
but maybe whoever fashioned it
will get blessed with glowing fireflies,
a sweet rhythm beyond keeping time,
beyond the swing of hips.
The designer deserves a tickertape parade.
I work with a delicate spine,
and this genius, creator, craftsman
gifts me with a mute servant:
a flip-flop mop to erase cobwebs,
a rag mop to ease over old pine floors,
a cloth mop to rub-a-dub-dub
forgiving grime inside a tub.
Sort of a miracle.
When duty days are done,
I lop off its floppity moppity head
letting it become a stirring stick to wet
tangled clothes in a washing machine.
Later on, grandboys make it a burning baton,
swift sword, limbo pole. All this
before it grows into a walking stick,
happy to help me stay upright
when the road begins to darken,
when fireflies frolic and flash.
The Mop
There is no way
to find holiness in a mop,
but maybe whoever fashioned it
will get blessed with glowing fireflies,
a sweet rhythm beyond keeping time,
beyond the swing of hips.
The designer deserves a tickertape parade.
I work with a delicate spine,
and this genius, creator, craftsman
gifts me with a mute servant:
a flip-flop mop to erase cobwebs,
a rag mop to ease over old pine floors,
a cloth mop to rub-a-dub-dub
forgiving grime inside a tub.
Sort of a miracle.
When duty days are done,
I lop off its floppity moppity head
letting it become a stirring stick to wet
tangled clothes in a washing machine.
Later on, grandboys make it a burning baton,
swift sword, limbo pole. All this
before it grows into a walking stick,
happy to help me stay upright
when the road begins to darken,
when fireflies frolic and flash.