While Cleaning Windows
I saw you first through rain-streaked glass
as I cleaned the store window, while below us
winter streets awoke and yawning shopworkers
tumbled off the number twenty-seven tram.
Your clothes and style were a cut above
the bovine girls I coaxed from the herd
at Friday hops, to spread across my cold divan.
By spring, there was a thaw in your fixed gaze,
a pink lipped smile as I rehearsed the eulogy
I wrote to send my mother to the grave.
In summer, I found you broken on the floor
stiff limbs unscrewed, piled by dusty lights
and rolled up cables, while in the glass
the lines of my reflection stared on back.
About this poem
A poem about obsessive love, disillusion and grief. A hop is an organised dance.
Font size:
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"While Cleaning Windows" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/178238/while-cleaning-windows>.
Discuss the poem While Cleaning Windows with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In