Friday, August 3, 2007

"Sorting Laundry" Analysis

Like folding a shirt, one section at a time, each person allows someone into their life, slowly entwining their hearts together.
Part of allowing someone into their life is sharing their dreams with each other. They lie in bed, propped on their pillows and share their dreams and hopes – dreams that run so deep they infuse themselves into the pillow onto which they rest.
Couples always seem to end up with garish household items bought on sale or when there was no money and they were the cheapest kind. Somehow each couple shares something special with the person they love over inanimate objects that are ugly, but the memories they hold keeps them from throwing them away.
Laundry is an endless chore, something that will never be completely finished. Getting laundry out in time to keep the wrinkles out never seems to work. Socks enter the washing machine like pairs of animals going into Noah’s ark and all end up alone at the end of a cycle - always a mystery.
Holding onto worn out objects is so easy; there are always good intentions to send them to the Goodwill, but somehow they never get sent.
Each batch of laundry is full of mysteries and surprises. When you empty the washing machine it is full of forgotten objects and treasures. Pens, coins, and jewelry reminding each person of the week’s events. Some objects are special and when they are found, take that person down memory’s lane of life events, some far and some near, and other objects just clog the drain.
Each person contemplates what their life would be without their partner. To think of folding just one person’s clothes, to only have one person’s treasures to sort through, to empty to the washing machine, and only find your clothes would feel empty. Piles and piles of one person’s laundry could not replace the emptiness that would be felt if the person who fills the spot in bed next to you was no longer there.

1 comment:

Gizelle said...

I love this poem. And I love your analysis of it! Thank you! It's helped me to fully understand the poem that much more.