Dan Bellm
Clean
You leave a trail behind you where you go–
I clean up after—cheerful—malcontent–
Mad little housewife—everything just so–
Neat as a fucking pin—Do I mind it?—No–
& should I?—Easy enough to pick up your scent–
You leave a trail behind you where you go,
You dirty boy—a stain—then before you know,
I’m April fresh again as the good Lord meant–
Not a whiff of you—everything just so–
Soon enough, you’re back again—you blow
Through town, leave me mussed & flustered & spent–
You leave a trail behind—still, soon as you go,
I’ve got Mary Martin up on the stereo,
Washin’ that man right out of her hair, relent-
Less with the soapsuds, everything just so
Divine without you as I mop ’n’ glo
Your muck & get on with my life—You came?—You went–
You leave a trail behind you when you go–
& I’m Miss Mr. Clean,
everything just so.
Dan Bellm is a poet and translator living in San Francisco. His most recent book of poetry, Practice (Sixteen Rivers, 2008), won a 2009 California Book Award and was named one of the year’s top ten poetry books by the Virginia Quarterly Review. He teaches Spanish to English Literary Translation online for New York University. Flower: lemon blossom.