Technically, taking out the trash is not Friday’s Fun Find. That today, May 10th, is Clean Up Your Room Day, makes this day kinda special. Mothers (and okay, three dads out there) are chasing after kids as I write, waving the calendar in their kids’ faces, yelling, “But it’s an official holiday!”

And even though I don’t have a clutch of kids hanging about my house these days, I do have the Beneficent Mr. Hall, who has been a muse for many a piece of writing. Including this (ridiculously appropriate for today) poem.

 

                                             Taking Out the Trash

 

                        It was just ‘round the time when kids fall asleep,

                        And fathers plop down in soft chairs.

                        With dishwashers running, and TVs a-humming,

                        As mothers tread soft on the stairs.

 

                        “Did you take out the trash?” she asked with a smile,

                        She doubted he’d gotten right to it.

                        “Ten minutes,” he said, never turning his head.

                        Why rush around now and do it?

 

                        She picked up the gym clothes, the games and the books.

                        She put everything back in its place.

                        He sprawled on his seat, with his two propped-up feet,

                        A look of sheer bliss on his face.

 

                        She packed all the lunches, wrote checks, stamped the bills,

                        Fed the dog, even cleaned the fish bowl.

                        He cheered on his team, with a whoop and a scream.

                        “The trash, please!” she begged. His eyes rolled.

 

                        “Okay,” he replied to the tone in her voice,

                        With a sidelong glance at the mother.

                         “I can never relax,” he said, stating the facts.

                         “It’s just one thing after another!”