F- Laundry
2025 National Poetry Month Challenge: Poem 4 ✔
i am really bad at folding the laundry the space between the dryer and the drawer is a chasm i cannot always cross my bras often go directly from basket to bosom undies understand they will not be origamied sometimes, i try to force it by dumping the cleans onto my bed but instead of becoming a barrier between me and sleep, i keep the laundry next to me pushed onto the unused side of the bed like a crumply clothes person spooning my lack of will until morning when i get up and select what is needed directly, from my patchwork pal this pile of functional disorder confronts me like a question why do i resist this chore more than all the others some self mysteries resist neat answers
I started the month of April with a goal of writing and sharing 4 poems a week in honor of National Poetry Month. My April was FULL of writing, teaching, and learning in the poetic sphere, but the need to post that many poems soon became a source of resistance as strong as my aversion to folding the laundry–for better and less mysterious reasons. I am increasingly aware that spending regular time on social media isn’t a healthy habit for me. Sometimes it is necessary, and there are stretches of time when I enjoy it, in small doses. But, consistent sharing requires consistent engagement. Even on Substack, a much healthier platform, posting more than once a week required much more internetting than I was interested in. So, I fell into my clean clothes system. The wash, the writing, the essential processes got done, but nothing was hung up for display in the closet. When my clean clothes go directly from basket to body, there eventually become so few of them, that they do get put away. In this first week of May, I am going to share some of the poems that were written in April to clear the way for the next wash of words ; )
It’s National Poetry Month! I’m participating in a modified form of NaPoWriMo, also know as the 30/30 Challenge. In this annual creative challenge, poets commit to writing and publishing (in whatever form) one poem a day every day for the month of April. It’s time consuming! My personal goal this year is 4 poems a week, for 4 weeks, in the 4th month of the year—more doable = more enjoyment and less self-induced anxiety. The point is to be generative, and there isn’t time for extensive editing. The pieces will be fresh, sometimes obviously unripe. Hopefully, a few will bloom. If you’d like to learn more and play along, this is a good place to start: https://www.napowrimo.net
I love this. Very relatable!!