MY SPONGE,
a Magic
Eraser. Made of compressed plastic. A central tool of my trade when I cleaned
houses for money. Its abrasive surface helped me get through jobs quickly,
reconfigured my job fees into something more livable, and left me with an abiding
respect for the things a sponge might tell us about dirty and clean, and the
work surrounding each. In what follows, a sampling.
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT KITCHEN’S
SPONGE
Opening
line proposing exchange: “Can I ask you a weird question?” Used for dishes in
shared staff space. Not much in the way of distinguishing marks (small
discoloration from unidentifiable food on one side). Is it just new, or are
people politer with the collective sponge?
PEYTON’S SPONGES
Though
this sponge looks like it should fit over your hand or strap around your hand, it
doesn’t, and was thus, Peyton reports, very awkward to use, unlike these —
which
seem, by the looks of the identical dirt-rings, to have been used (often) on dishes?
Sponge edge against pot (and pot and pot) in a routine & downward scrubbing
motion?
ABBY’S SPONGE,
threaded
with Abby-hairs. “Probably” used in the bathroom; Abby doesn’t like sponges for
the kitchen (“gross”).
JOSH R’S SPONGE
Used
on dishes until, with the knowledge it was headed for archival inactivity, Josh
used it (hard) on the tub.
CREEPY KID’S SPONGE
An
outlier: Sponge as toy, not tool. Former property of Katie’s 9-year-old
neighbor, an “uncharming” child who claims to see ghosts. Found in the sandbox
with scrubber pad ripped clean off.
DORIAN’S SPONGE,
which
arrived in a small ziploc still damp & flecked with green. Guessed
correctly to be broccoli: more specifically, organic-frozen-dinner broccoli
consumed during the busy early days of Dorian’s first MFA semester. The sponge
stank up my whole house ‘til it finally dried out.
***
Note: Sponge collection ongoing...
Donations gratefully accepted. Shoot an email to mirandatrimmier@email.arizona.edu to get the process in motion.
