Question

A Question of How You Keep House

        After I had driven away
           did you spend your time today
           in cleanup--
           sanitizing, sterilizing, neutralizing me
           from your life?
        Were you careful to erase
           each trace of our pridian lovemaking
           from your body?
        Were you successful in eradicating
           my spoor
           from every step I took in the place
           from the door of your threshold
           to the floor by the bed
           where we laid our heads
           when we were done?
        Did you open a window
           to clear out the room,
           to help dissipate
           the scent of perfume
           which clung on the air?
        And when you thought that you were done
           did you give it just one last run
           to ascertain again
           that nothing of mine
           was left behind
           to sully your fine residence
        so you could once more invite
          your other love to join you there--
          the one to whom the sight
          of a strange red hair in your sink
          could bring to the brink
          of a heart-rending despair?
        When once I left you all alone
           were you able to find
           that you could purge me
           from your mind
           as easily as you could from your home?
        And how much hesitance
           would you show
           in tossing me away
           like the stray lipstick-blotted tissue
           which evidences your shame?

        Did you ever hazard a guess
           that bringing me into your life this way
           would cause such a mess
           that even Heloise
           could not help you clean it up?

        Or, after I had driven away
           did you instead gladly spend your day
           in pleasant remembrance
           of the joyous sex we shared--
           no guilt there, no cleanup required,
           only the recognition
           of a lovedance
           that leaves you even more prepared
           to give to your other--
           the one who also touches you
           with her tender care
           and wet, wild, wicked ways--
           her day's nurturance,
           as you have so much
           left to spare?

        And do you now see
           that whether you view me
           as your tedious chore,
           your well-fucked but forgotten whore,
           or your glorious doorway to growth
           is wholly within your choosing?
        It is all just a question
           of how you keep house.

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