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Spring Cleaning by Melvin Dixon | Poetry Magazine

poetryfoundation.org · 154 words · saved by 1 readers

First goes floordust, then newspapers

Share First goes floordust, then newspapers stacked near the bed. Peanut shells swept out of hiding between mattress and rug. Toenails clipped. Sprouts of a beard shaved off. With hourly glasses of Deer Park Water and the barest of food, the body sheds winter fat and filler. The hair goes next, close to the gleaming, gleaming skull. You are ready for the sun and the salt-tongued air. You are someone new. I will be someone new, like you, and promise not to hear the rattle our bones make moving from empty closets and all through the room. Notes: This poem was previously published in Love’s Instr

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