The Sudyssey
Preparations
I sort armfuls of white dark delicate
like Jesus at the judgment
bleach the sheep
drown the goats in cold
warm the delicates in purgatory
tumble dry low.
Voyage
Eighteen cubic feet of fabric
in the shape of human beings
stuffed in a Corolla
on to Super Suds
haven of the appliance-challenged
white enamel walls washers dryers
so fluorescently superilluminated
I see things on my skin never seen before.
Temptations
A carousel of yellow tea cups
topped by a fiberglass sombrero
a red-metal-flake Ferrari
candy-snatching chrome claw
snack-o-rama coke machine
soap-a-matic (little boxes
slide and drop like cigarette packs)
all as hungry for coins
as washers and dryers.
Eleusynian Mysteries
Regular washers two bits for cold
three for warm four for hot
but no one knows
what goes on
inside toploaders
raise the lid everything stops
police at a speakeasy.
Double-loaders five bits
I swear they don't hold more
pay extra to see your wash
through a porthole
do the aqua ballet
wave at your overalls.
Siege
Basket by basket
I conquer eight washers
add detergent agitate
spin time's up
dig damp clothes out
wheel to massive dryers
shovel in like coal
watch panties crawl halfway
up perforated gray
cylinders, fall.
Dionysius
a drunk hustling change squints
in the enamel glare
"Can you spare any change?"
"Who has change at a laundromat?" I say.
Sirens
Small-boned Thais
heart-faced Cambodians
olive-eyed Latinos
delicate dark arm hair
tingling in the draft
o nubian queen may I spider
your plum's crease?
Circe
High-hipped Filipino
hair thick as hemp
mahogany breasts like baseballs
through her under-sized bra
folds her clothes so delicately
I want to scream
for each soft fingertip
her sheets receive.
Underworld
Eight dryers loaded
out for a smoke on the Dalmatian rug
(gum-stained sidewalk)
whoosh of traffic flip my butt
in the dark mirror of the gutter
re-enter the shiny walls
empty the giant cylinders
wheel the baskets like boxcars of ore
to the folding tables
fold for an hour
try not to dwell on orphaned socks
sort clothes by family member
stack in baskets.
Ithaca
Down the spiral parking ramp
up the elevator
crowded with wash
if someone asks
I say "Our washer just broke"
though it's been so long
I can't remember.
