Love Poem: Cleaning Out the Car
Caren Krutsinger Avatar
Written by: Caren Krutsinger

Cleaning Out the Car

Today my husband and I decided to clean out the car, together.
Only I thought I was doing it alone, until he came out.
Okay, I quit, I said, knowing what happens when he gets in my WAY.
Remember I despise cleaning!
It’s something I only do when forced.
Today is force day.
We are exchanging cars.
I unloaded my car on Thursday night.
What a fright!
There are seventeen unopened boxes, waiting in the hall.
And six bags of stuff someone might be able to use twenty years ago, on the couch
Inside the front door.
If my mother showed up even after a four hour car ride,
I could not let her in.
She’d have to drive around for an hour or so.
I truly wish I was kidding.
I’ll just unload the five hundred pounds of birdseed, he told me.
Pretty soon we were fighting over a five dollar bill and a barrette.
The man doesn’t even have hair.
Those boxes and bags can wait for a week or two.
I’m in no hurry to go through them
Until I realize my wallet is missing.