When The Washing Is Done,

It's under the sun....

Whenever my washing is done,

I string it out under the sun 

It hangs out under the blue sky

That quiet, nonjudgmental eye.

It’s just the next step in a chore,

The washing can't be kept indoors 

Its must go out to get some air

Sack cloth or silk, I do not care

Each piece of mine, I've rinsed and wrung

Squeezing it till each strand has sung

The load that I’ve beaten all day.

Must now flutter on full display

I do it for it must be done.

Or else my pile would weigh a ton

Lest my threads be stiffened with grime

Snapping under the weight of time

There's not too much to make of  it

No epic truths, or holy writs

Some fabric flapping in the breeze

Without design or guarantees 

It’s just my washing, line by line

Bits of mine on a length of twine.

Dancing with wind or limp and dead

To be oft passed or briefly read. 

Author's Note

Thank you for reading.

Reviews

[Neha agrawal]

“Bits of mine on a length of twine” is such a perfect, poignant line. Truly lovely work.

[DIVYA]

Thank you so much Neha.

[JMichael]

Doing the washing as a metaphor for the writing process, huh? Somehow I doubt that writing for you is as laborious as the act of doing the washing and hanging it out to dry. It’s just more of an evolutionary, literary process that some need to put themselves through, to get their words down on paper and hung out in places like this website to dry and be read.

As you tell us, it’s just your word washing written on the lines, a process you go through for the sheer love of the art and a sense of creativity . I think if the day comes when writing does feel as mundane as truly hanging out the washing then perhaps it would be time to set the pen aside and pursue another medium.

A clever metaphor on display here, hanging out in the sun for all to read. Slyly and otherwise!

[DIVYA]

Lol. JMichael, you have actually detected a flaw in this poem - That writing is a laborious chore while it is actually enjoyed. Thank you for pointing it out and I may have to de-publish the poem, given the contradiction.
Could be think of washing as an internal churning of emotions though? A cleansing of some kind, maybe of catharitic value? Please do opine. Otherwise I may have to take it down.
Thank you so much for such a great review and I so appreciate your visits!

[AJNJ]

Madam, you're on a role. Can washing be compared to smoking? I'd love that and you can do it. But this is about writing? Yes I think so. Kudos.

[DIVYA]

I can try but no promises. It may come out looking different than intended. Thanks a lot for boosting me AJ.

[emmajoygreen]

Your words and their metre are set neatly, waving in the air as if an exaple of part of yourself, a cleansing, a display of how it is to have order and domestic purity in your life. Your words are set carefully, explicitly as if to gently impress your reader that this is you living your life,

'..I do it for it must be done.
Or else my pile would weigh a ton
And my threads stiffened by grime
Snap with the gathering weight of time'

[DIVYA]

Dear Emmajoy,
Perhaps, as you say, a wave to the world that all is well with me. Thank you so much for the kind review. I hope you're doing well.

[emmajoygreen]

Wishing you a happy and peaceful new month full of love, peace plus - a brightly rosey future! All's well, thank you. :)

[Thomas W Case]

Powerful work. Sharp and vivid.

[DIVYA]

Thank you so much, Thomas.