Liberty's Laundry

Refers to the old video game Arkanoid, which involved a wall of bricks you had to break through with a paddle and ball -- so you could get to the next level, with a harder wall to break through.

S**t rains down on you in this game
if you break through enough walls.  
Six weeks in, I trip the brick 
that sets you off.  I can see liberty 
sleeping in my bed and doing its laundry.
The sky darkens, like turned 
leaves and guppy water.  
I peer at your voice and flick my wrist,
and flick my wrist, and flick my wrist.  
I pull another quarter from my pocket.  You give
instruction sometimes, sometimes sit on a bench
doing your chem lab.  The sky falls.
I do your laundry, and liberty's, and my own,
changing twenties to quarters, playing while I wait
for the sheets to dry, never hanging anything
on the line, bracing myself for the rain.

Reviews

[Nyida Strong]

Passion from laundry... who says poetry is boring? This isn't lover's embrace sort of passion, but "anger coming to get you" sort of passion, a fire in the gut that swells with each load of knickers and sheets. Good job!