The daily ritual of pushing
dirt from here to there;
temporary triumph against entropy
order imposed upon chaos.
Brooms have been around forever.
easy technology causing mess
into pristine stacks ready for rejection
transitory success in terms of hygiene.
Sweeping, however, encompasses more than simply cleaning.
under rugs we brush problems.
concealing what we are unable to repair,
acting unseeable solves.
Governments brush scandals under the headlines.
Families keep abuse quiet.
Generations learning not to mention...
what everyone knows but will not say.
Clean sweep is complete success.
Opponents were completely wiped off.
Sport teams sweep series;
Dictators bury resistance into graves.
Sweeping generalizations characterize everyone by the same brush,
subtlety given up for clarity,
Complexity dropped to simple conclusions.
Once youngsters were chimney sweeps.
Small enough to ascend flues,
lung blackened by soot
before adolescence appeared.
Progress obliterated that savagery.
substituting machines, rules,
one terror removed
While still other gather in corners,
Sweep me off my feet; love as destruction of reasoned intellect;
love that eliminates opposition
passion that prepares everything before itself.