Clean, Clean, Clean by Linh Dinh

Linh Dinh read this poem in Philadelphia last night at the Asian Arts Initiative. It was published in Harper's, but Dinh insisted that it is "not a Harper's poem:"

Clean, Clean, Clean

Belonging to the lower class, you’re expected

To cater to the upper class’ lower bodily functions,

Not to engage their minds but to wipe their asses,

Kiss their cunts on demand, suck cocks for tips,

Unless, of course, you’re an artist, in which case,

You’re an aristocrat of the servant class, to quote

That grand maestro among slaves, Jasper Johns.

I used to clean apartments and houses.

Showing up for a new job, I was greeted

By the mistress, “I have the most respect

For new immigrants. You work so hard!”

Down low, you’ll get a disproportionate

Low down on all things funky and nasty,

Nothing unusual, really, just shit and stuff.

I cleaned toilets and fridges, folded panties,

Got on all fours, dipped into the suspicious.

A young woman confi ded, “I moved to Philly

Because California women were so beautiful.”

She was usually home when I came. The spine

Of her soft porn book turned to the wall. They all

Had some smut in the house. This was before

The Internet made these sad and surreptitious

Purchases unnecessary. I found a teen-aged

Madonna in a closet, so I knelt and sighed.

A fat one lived alone, but once she said, “Sorry,

The house is so messy today. I had company

Last night,” and her face brightened angelically.

--from Linh Dinh's Some Kind of Cheese Orgy (Chax Press, 2009)