this poem might be about laundry
or maybe it’s a memoir
about laundry
or maybe it is
symbolism
of what goes wrong
a symptom
of what is wrong
all i know
is we fell in love
& we were invincible
& life was a game
to play
even
at the laundromat
washing and drying and folding
always together
always goofing off and cracking jokes
intermingling our
under
&
outer
garments
it didn’t feel like a chore
it was just
another way
to be young
to be in love
then
because life is a fucking
fairy tale
we were married
& we bought a house
our very own washer and dryer
the american
dream
for laundry
high-efficiency even
but where is he now?
why am i
the only one
washing and drying and folding?
when did it go
from us vs. the laundry
to me
doing
the fucking
goddamned
laundry
alone?
he disappeared
& left me to wash
his
smelly
socks
unhappily ever after.
© quixotic mama 2018
for more of my art & writings, check out quixotic mama
the image is a self-portrait done in ink pen & ink brush
Reblogged this on Quixotic Mama and commented:
here is another way-back poem…
when my now ex-husband moved with me into our first home with it’s own washer & dryer, he turned to me & said, “i am never doing laundry again.”
and he didn’t.
until i divorced him & moved out.
but it’s not really about the laundry…is it?
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Nice metaphor.
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thank you
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No, it’s not about laundry. It seems to be about the intrigue, then complacency.
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my ex-husband emotionally abandoned me. especially after i started having children. he was still there physically, but i was alone.
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it was supposed to hit on the patriarchy & unfair gender roles. i need to keep working on it. there was no complacency…just emotional abuse.
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I’m sorry to hear that. I did get the patriarchy and gender roles too. Well done.
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oh good! thank you ❤
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The thing about love is that it eventually loses its, freshness, and, we became, bored with each other, that was why at the very start of the relationship, something as menial as a household chore like doing the laundry was so fun to be shared by the two of you, but as the days (and the marriage too) dragged on, you two became, fatigued by the same old routines every single day, and, then, doing the laundry got turned back to what it originally was: a C-H-O-R-E…
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actually he just emotionally abandoned me.
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i was trying to write a poem that touched on patriarchy & unfair gender roles. i guess i will have to write a poem about the dishes. i actually never became fatigued. just lonely.
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This is tragic, darkly humorous and very deep even though it’s written in such an easy to read, witty style. I enjoyed it.
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thank you!
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