Spring Cleaning

[abigaildorothea]

When I was nineteen I cleaned her house
Top to bottom.
Washed away her boredom [trace, fragrance] to me it sounds like she's jealous of the woman's life and wants to replace her
With my greying sponge
And ran my fingers through
Her scarves and clothes.
I liked one particular belt
With a butterfly clasp.
It felt cold and heavy. [I tried it on once, and almost left it on the floor.] Not sure what the purpose of "it felt cold and heavy" was.

I loved her husband something
thick and desperate.  Honestly love those two lines
He looked like I thought men should look.
With my mop I followed
His dirty footprints on the
Linoleum. Sometimes I thought
About stealing his cigars.

I cleared away lipstick stained coffee cups
And half-dressed glasses of wine. 

Was she doing both of these actions at the same time? was the picture in the soot?
Lifting soot from the fireplace     Tidying the objects on the mantle I stop
I cradled a picture of her mother To cradle a picture of her mother.
(These two lines are a placeholder. I like yours but I was confused with those two lines as it suggests that as she lifted soot from the fireplace (which is hard to picture) she also cradled a picture of her mother)


On the mantlepiece,  
Before wiping the dust away.

Walking home I lost
the money she gave me.
I spent the afternoon retracing my steps,
Honeysuckle in my nose and
wind burning my eyes.
I never did find that twenty.

The rest is lovely.