I Threw My Memories in the Dryer

Inches, Dimensions, four by six

Glossy, Matte, some scratched print

In piles lay like stacks of brick

Bound by rubber elastic

Each memory rendered an emotion.

Pain.

Loneliness again.

So, I decided, what would happen if

I threw my memories in the dryer?

Being one conformist to ritual and routine,

The frozen snapshots must first be

Initiated in the wash machine.

Down, down, down they fluttered

Like leaves in a breeze or

Descending birds for rest or drink

Floating amidst the past of another

I closed the window door

Sat, parked, my aching bottom to the floor

Popcorn, I had none

I waited as

SWISH SWISH SWISH

My memories were washed

The hasty deed done

Before the device could end it's spectacle

of tremendous rotations

The water drained, a thirst's reward

I pulled in haste the soft fragments

Remains of memories like bleeding cotton

And before my heart could take no more

I made haste to scatter the cloudy remains

Into the dryer door

I wondered

What will become

Of my memories then?

Photographs will eventually meet an end

Some minutes of 3, 5, and 9 passed

I demanded they stay in line

And wait, wait, wait some more

And in time of thirty and five

I flung open the door

And there, to my expectant dismay

In reckless heaps

In chaos's beautiful rendition

My memories lay

And to my dismay, my utter suspense

The pain didn't end

Infinity unkempt

The imagines still pieced together whole

In the closets of my mind

Desk drawers of my soul

I pondered, with great distress

"The wash should've done it

Should've cleaned up this mess!"

"The dryer? The dryer!

Coward! A liar!

Dry what? Nature's tears?

But thine not mine are obscured

Into peaceful oblivion!"

And it was then, in the very moment

I did see, rather smell

The pile of dirty laundry

In the corner of my soul

Unmoved, unattended

That I did pick up the phone

And pecked at the numbers in rapid succession

To call the landlady of a picture

Whose beauty I did wreck

I said

"I'm sorry for the wreck.

Not this

But then."

And I hung up

I dialed again

A landlord of a glossy one

That melted to the dryer's side

"Dear sir, I proclaim,

My life is loneliness

with the absence of your name.

Please, please, dine with me,

And bring as a side dish

Forgiveness for one

Healing for two.

We shall sup dessert after those portions

And relish in the sweetness of friendship rekindled

With glasses overflowing of joyful tears for three or more!"

And I hung up again

The lady whose heart I blatantly abused

Played with like a careless god

The companionship of a comrade

Did I stomp harsh, cold, straight into the mud

I could not wash the anguish

Nor dry away the bitter tears

Until I threw my memories into repentance

And hung them dry in sunlight’s forgiveness

The promise of a new foundation

New memories to be captured and sung.

~~TheSplash