first poetry blog

The VacuumBy Howard Nemerov

The house is so quiet now

The vacuum cleaner sulks in the corner closet,   

Its bag limp as a stopped lung, its mouth   

Grinning into the floor, maybe at my

Slovenly life, my dog-dead youth.

I’ve lived this way long enough,

But when my old woman died her soul

Went into that vacuum cleaner, and I can’t bear   

To see the bag swell like a belly, eating the dust   

And the woolen mice, and begin to howl

Because there is old filth everywhere

She used to crawl, in the corner and under the stair.   

I know now how life is cheap as dirt,   

And still the hungry, angry heart   

Hangs on and howls, biting at air.

The reason I like the poem in general  is because the author wrote in a way that sounds like its more personal about his life. When I was reading the poem it made me feel confused at first then I started to feel awkward because it was about death and I was not expecting that from a poem called "The Vacuum".  What was in the poem that I liked was the title because I thought it was about cleaning and the first few lines make it seem about cleaning and it was a common interest on how the author and I felt about the vacuum but it was not that way the more I kept reading. 

3 of my favorite lines:

1)To see the bag swell like a belly

The reason I liked this line is because I pictured a vacuum cleaner bag  swell up, it helped me understand what the author is saying and how he is describing it. 

2) I've lived this way long enough

The reason I like this line is because it helped me understand how the author is feeling, and that he is depressed and sad wants to move on with his life. 

3) When my old woman died 

The reason i like this line is because I did not understand the poem at first but when I read this sentence and came across this line, I understood that the author was talking about his wife.