(Photo: Wash Day by Grandma Moses. 1945. Oil on masonite.)
On a Windy Wash Day Morn by Brenda Seabrooke
Soaked and scrubbed in a round tin tub
with homemade soap
up and down the ribs of a wooden washboard by hands rubbed red & raw
on a windy wash day morn.
Stiffened with starch, squeezed
and wrung to a twisted laundry rop
then hung on lines to flap
back and forth and snap dry
on a windy wash day morn.
Laid on the lawn like paper cutouts
clean shirts and sheets, towels and skirts
smelling of sun and clouds and wind
wait to be ironed and worn and dirtied again for another wash day morn.
Doesn't that just make you want to do laundry like they used to?
Mmmm I like the image of that, but would rather do laundry in my machines! LOL I still like the fresh scent of sheets off the line though.
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