Memaw did the laundry dream
Carrying the basket
Balanced on her side hip
Like a toddler down the
Damp cement basement steps
Round the side of the house
When I couldn’t find her
Inside of the kitchen
I’d look out the screen door
Where the sheets and blankets
Hung with assorted clothes
On the wire clothesline strung
In the back of the yard
Then I would see the top
Of her white head bobbing
Up and down between them
Securing with clothespins
As she hummed an old tune --
And if the black cloud came
That often would appear
In the hot summer sky
Signaled by a rumbling
That would shake the whole house
We would hurry outside
To gather it all in
Laughing, we’d race the rain
Bumping one another
And playing tug of war
As we grabbed the same piece
Wadding up the blankets
In our fumbling arms as
Clothespins fell to the ground
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