Laundered Echoes
Description:
A poem exploring the bond between water, soap, and sheets during the act of laundering; delving into purpose, existence, and transformation of the three.
While feeding the sheets water and soap,
I felt there was a lot for the three to ponder,
but the last two had something to bother.
It was knitted in purpose and fate,
as the soap melted
with intimate kneading
in my hands, over and over again.
It wonders if it lives right,
doing right by the sheets and water.
It hopes it is effective enough
to produce an effective wash,
and its sweet blend of scents
to last beyond the laundry room—
from the linen's wardrobe
to skins and surfaces that will wear it.
In its contemplation, I think of it
in terms of living and leaving.
If its birth was too soon
or death too quick,
where does it go as it travels fluid
through the water pipes?
There, water was
thinking of its transformation,
from freedom to gush
into the laundry basin,
moving according to the motion of my hands,
kneading the sheets through it—
now bluish-grey in colour,
towing the way of the fluid.
Soap stripped off its leather and bubbles,
I wonder if it would
join the rest for judgement
or be purified
just the moment it flows from purpose.
I wonder if my satisfaction
during the wash,
in the spread
in the folding,
will speak for both water and soap,
or will it be the job of the basin,
the linen, the wardrobe,
skins, or surfaces
to advocate for them.
It is the basin,
sheets, soap, and water's life
to live by my hands
on the way to cleanliness
and the tender nurture of weaved wool.
