There once was a girl’s messy room
that rarely got cleaned or vacuumed;
Heaps of paper and clothes
piled up to her nose
till her mom had to have her exhumed.

And although this mess almost did smother
the teen, she could point to another:
mom’s room, messy throughout,
full of clutter — No doubt
‘cause it’s true: just like daughter, like mother.

©2013 Carlotta Eike Stankiewicz