Wednesday, February 20, 2008

What is real?

It’s laundry day
I’ve spent all morning and half an afternoon
carrying baskets of dirty clothes
and baskets of clean clothes
up and down
down and up
three flights of stairs
camping in front of my television
folding while I watch
all those too-pretty people
in their perfectly packaged lives
so much drama, so much sizzle
while I create ordered stacks of
ordinary underwear, towels, socks and shirts
no lace, leopard print or designer labels to be seen
and on commercial breaks
I’m whisking baskets of neatly folded laundry
back upstairs
placing each item with care
in its appointed place
now a load of sheets still warm from my dryer
no need to fold
as I fling soft flannel
across width and length of my bed
stuff pillows in freshly clean cases
and tuck hospital corners
it hits me what is real
is how one edge of the top sheet
is still damp.

4 comments:

paisley said...

i lov ehow you are able to take laundry,, and make it sound fun... even beautiful... i love the washing and the drying part... but being single... i seldom fold or put away... and forget the sheets part... cant get the dogs out of the bed long enough to make it....lol

aubreyannie said...

nice visualization with your laundry. are you a soapie?

Anonymous said...

"while I create ordered stacks of
ordinary underwear, towels, socks and shirts"

somewhere in here while I was reading and my kids were running around me I read: while I create ordered stacks of award winning underwear....and laughed to myself as I had to re-read the poem and of course focus- I am glad that I did.

chicklegirl said...

Paisley--yeah, I have to roust my cats off the bed whenever I want to strip off the sheets! Lately I've been trying to find the Zen in my less appealing duties... this poem was a small effort to do that.

Aubrey--what IS a soapie? If I knew, I could tell you.

Roberta--I like the "award winning underwear" better than what I wrote. Sadly, the only awards my underwear might win would be for... well, let's not go there!