‘Sweep’

Em Harriett is a photographer from New England with a focus on nature, color, texture, and line. Her work has appeared in Oyster River Pages, F-Stop Magazine, and Kelp Journal, among others. Find more of Em's photography at emharriett.com.

Sweep

My mother warned

me of days like this

consumed by ideas

of unachievable

cleanliness, whatever

that means for us, me,

my hands just like hers.

Crescent shaped

bits of fingernails

sitting around edges

of yellow & leather

& wooden chairs.

Fur found in the corner

of my apartment

where the ants come

from despite the globs

of thermoplastic

craft store polymer

that soaks and seeps

into the deeper parts

of the unwanted

opening carved out

and crumbling with

time and wind.

Bristles on a broom

braided by hand

moving gold Dollar

Tree glitter from one

crevice to the next,

white whiskers picked

out of dust, added to

collections kept

on a shelf covered

in more dust, windows

letting in sun bursts

and small bugs.

Camdyn Bass is currently an MFA candidate at New Mexico State University where she serves as the Poetry Editor for the graduate led literary magazine, Puerto Del Sol. She is the recipient of the Ruth Scott Poetry Award and Harris Kunz Poetry Thesis Prize. Her piece, "Put Down Your Weapons", can be found online at Poets.org.