"Laundry" by Ruth Moose

And because I can't stand not having a poem, here is a nice one that I didn't know before today.

Laundry

All our life

so much laundry;

each day’s doing or not

comes clean,

flows off and away

to blend with other sins

of this world. Each day

begins in new skin,

blessed by the elements

charged to take us

out again to do or undo

what’s been assigned.

From socks to shirts

the selves we shed

lift off the line

as if they own

a life apart

from the one we offer.

There is joy in clean laundry.

All is forgiven in water, sun

and air. We offer our day’s deeds

to the blue-eyed sky, with soap and prayer,

our arms up, then lowered in supplication.

Source: Making the Bed (Main Street Rag Press, 2004)

Laundry by Ruth Moose : The Poetry Foundation

Teaching My College-Bound Daughter to Wash Her Own Clothes

I think I'll write her a poem about doing her own laundry, but in the mean time, here are a collection of blogs advising college kids about doing their own laundry. There is not very much interesting (or worth re-posting) so I'll have to write my own advice.

"Life Is Just A Basket of Laundry" by Mary Marlowe Leverette

"Annie Gives Advice About Doing Laundry On and Off Campus" (in Illinois!)

My Own Advice

1. color (light, dark, or red)

2. temperature (cold or as hot as possible)

3. agitation (your bras or your blue jeans)

4. cloth (natural and not)