Make your bed, they said
So I did.
Made it neat and complete
with hospital corners
tidily tucked in.
But then I heard it or read it
or someone told me about it:
1.5 million dust mites
living in my sheets.
In my sheets!
Throw back the sheets, they said.
Let it all air out.
Let the moisture evaporate.
Defeat those wee beasties
though they don’t sting or bite
or burrow into flesh.
Instead they revel in bed
dining on dead skin and hair
without care
leaving a trail of turgid fecal pellets
poop particles, if you will,
which you breathe in
and out
and in.
It’s enough to make you cringe
and scrub at your skin
or to activate
an asthmatic attack.

Did you know?
Did you know?
Dead mites
and their droppings
can accumulate
to a terrifying ten percent
of the weight
of a two-year old pillow.
Or more!
Did you know that?

But an unmade bed
showers those sheets
(that you tossed and turned
and shed in)
with light and air
to desiccate the dust mites,
depriving them
of their warm, moist domicile.

There’s no real debate,
no reason to wait.
Forget that Good Housekeeping
Seal of Approval.
Rip off that comforter.
Pull off those sheets.
Let the light shine in
and your bed aerate.
And come bedtime,
Night night,
sleep tight.

Damn mite.

(c) Molly Hogan, 2015

Remember to visit Katya Czaja at Write. Sketch. Repeat. for the Poetry Friday Round Up.