The Innisfree Poetry Journal www.innisfreepoetry.org by Heidi Mordhorst LISTENING TO THE LAUNDRY
(for Lynn Thomas Strauss on the occasion of her leavetaking from River
Road Unitarian Church, with great gratitude for poetry in the pulpit)
Hear this: Our days do not unfold in a series of arguments all lined up like so many pairs of socks, matched and smoothed and rolled together: yes/no more/less then/now us/them all/nothing No, we live through ebb and flow, through thrash and tumble, like water filling and draining in the washing machine, like socks and skirts and scarves and shorts and shirts all rolling around, tangled and wrinkled in the hot dryer, with the occasional sneaker thumping loudly, unpredictably inside our hearts. “The work of the artist is to render the invisible.” The work of the preacher is to render the inaudible. This tangled, wrinkled thumping—we need to hear this. © Copyright 2006-7 by Cook Communication |