clean sweep in poetry

whenever I’m cleaning in any kind of meaningful way
more than just doing dishes clothes or straightening up
the dog and the cat always look up at me with mock surprise
the dog and the cat manage to be silent sarcastic about it
as if to say “cleaning, do you even know how to DO that?”
“do you know what you’re using’s called a va-cuum clea-ner?”
“can you say va-cuum clea-ner?”

cleaning is the fundamentally irrational
act of periodically misplacing all your
possessions in the vain hope of being
mistaken as organized by others
but that doesn’t stop the pets
from messing with me about it

whenever I’m cleaning in any kind of meaningful way
more than just doing dishes clothes or straightening up
the dog and the cat spend the whole time making fun of me
and I’m convinced my mom trained them to do it
I don’t know how she managed to do it
I can barely stop them from
pooping in my goddamn shoes