Wash Day

The woman hangs her laundry on the line,

Dangling between the back porch and a pole.

A baby sits perched on her hip,

Drooling over the cleaned clothing

Waiting to be hung to dry.

 

On the porch two small children sit

Sharing the cracker that is their breakfast.

There is no screen on the back door

That flaps with the breeze on it's stretched spring

Banging it's displeasure.

 

Flies and roaches call the kitchen home,

Warring with the dog over the crumbs on the floor.

There is no car, there is no man, only a battered old house.

The woman looks and dreams of a future.

Trying to escape from the reality that today is her 18th birthday.

 

 

Reviews

[Larry Dyson]

WV coal mines..or apalachian backwoods.. very definite compelling picture..