Sarah Ward: Messy Room by Shel Silverstein

Whosoever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater's been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosoever room this is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or--
Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,
I knew it looked familiar!


I smiled when I first read this poem. I have always been a clean freak. I make my bed every morning, run the dishwasher every night before bed, and clean my bathroom about 3 times a week. I typically shower three times a day and spend a good portion of my day endlessly cleaning anything in sight. There comes a time in life where one has to say 'enough is enough'. These past few weeks, I have become careless with my cleaning regimen. My room looks similar to that described in the poem. There are not enough hours in the day and I often find myself running home, changing clothes, and throwing them anyplace I can find. I have about twelve loads on laundry on the floor, scattered throughout the room, towels hanging off of every piece of furniture, wires stretched across the room, and boxes of overflowing schoolwork that needs to be disposed. Just as the poem says, I am ashamed to bring people over with the condition that my room is in. Hopefully once finals are finished, I will have the intrinsic motivation to clean my room and start tackling the mountain of laundry.