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Inspired by an older gentleman who seems to have developed a crush on our local laundress.

May 12th - practicing revisions this week


Love is in the details

I dream of her
her hand on handle – the other
on her board, holding it still.
I would gather wrinkly things,
she would straighten them.
Her mastery over iron
has beguiled me. Her firm
purposeful movements quick
at times – slowed at a pleat.
No other has shown such
extensive knowledge of when
to use steam, when to press.

(original that was posted here, although the above is closer to the original, original. )

Loving the Laundress

At night he dreamed of her
her hand on handle – the other
on his board, holding it still.
He would gather wrinkly things,
she would straighten them.
Her mastery over iron
captivated him. Her firm
purposeful movements quick
at times – slowed when reaching
a pleat. No other showed such
extensive knowledge of when
to use steam, when to press.
Love is in the details.

Cate wrote:Inspired by an older gentleman who seems to have developed a crush on our local laundress.

Loving the Laundress

At night he dreamed of her
her hand on handle – the other
on his board, holding it still.
He would gather wrinkly things,
she would straighten them.
Her mastery over iron
captivated him. Her firm
purposeful movements quick
at times – slowed when reaching
a pleat. No other showed such
extensive knowledge of when
to use steam, when to press.
Love is in the details.

what a lovely poem. I first thought it might be about me and my old stalker troll William but then I couldn't remember if I had ever mentioned in this forum that I am an ironer (that was irony btw),

much love to Cate and her date

Sue (in Hong Kong)(tomorrow in New Zealand) (Thursday in Barbados, Friday in the O2,London, and Saturday in Japan)

Sideways wrote: what a lovely poem. I first thought it might be about me and my old stalker troll William but then I couldn't remember if I had ever mentioned in this forum that I am an ironer (that was irony btw)

"(that was irony btw)" ...yes – thank you for pointing that out, hehe – a pun to I believe.
BTW congrats on your world tour Sue! – I hope it goes off without any wrinkles.

Love to Sue and her iron too.

Cate

Note to William – I meant love in a friendly way so there is no need to be jealous.

Cate wrote:

Sideways wrote: what a lovely poem. I first thought it might be about me and my old stalker troll William but then I couldn't remember if I had ever mentioned in this forum that I am an ironer (that was irony btw)

"(that was irony btw)" ...yes – thank you for pointing that out, hehe – a pun to I believe.
BTW congrats on your world tour Sue! – I hope it goes off without any wrinkles.

Love to Sue and her iron too.

Cate

Note to William – I meant love in a friendly way so there is no need to be jealous.

Oh no, is the "William" in your post the Stalker Troll who lusts after my iron? Must we talk of him? I have installed specialist software that removes his words from my screen although, sadly, his presence is still logged. I am working on a way to delete him completely.

I do confess, (but don't tell William!) that at first I found his stalking rather endearing, perversely flattering even, but because he was showing no hint of improvement in his writing I became worried about wasted bandwith.

Please do share any more of your poems, Cate

love

Sue, in Tokyo,(due to faulty map), tomorrow Paris, Friday Bangkok, Saturday Montreal, Sunday Tokyo

Sideways wrote: Oh no, is the "William" in your post the Stalker Troll who lusts after my iron? Must we talk of him? I have installed specialist software that removes his words from my screen although, sadly, his presence is still logged. I am working on a way to delete him completely.

I do confess, (but don't tell William!) that at first I found his stalking rather endearing, perversely flattering even, but because he was showing no hint of improvement in his writing I became worried about wasted bandwith.

Please do share any more of your poems, Cate

love

Sue, in Tokyo,(due to faulty map), tomorrow Paris, Friday Bangkok, Saturday Montreal, Sunday Tokyo

Hi Sue – I looked through to see if I had any more little poems about laundry, sadly I don’t. It seems to be an unrepresented subject area.
I thought I had one about socks – but I couldn’t find it.

If you don't wish to speak of that other gentleman, we won't - perhaps he's not to your taste - said the cute red head who just happened to be holding a wrinkly shirt.

Cate wrote:

Sideways wrote: Oh no, is the "William" in your post the Stalker Troll who lusts after my iron? Must we talk of him? I have installed specialist software that removes his words from my screen although, sadly, his presence is still logged. I am working on a way to delete him completely.

I do confess, (but don't tell William!) that at first I found his stalking rather endearing, perversely flattering even, but because he was showing no hint of improvement in his writing I became worried about wasted bandwith.

Please do share any more of your poems, Cate

love

Sue, in Tokyo,(due to faulty map), tomorrow Paris, Friday Bangkok, Saturday Montreal, Sunday Tokyo

Hi Sue – I looked through to see if I had any more little poems about laundry, sadly I don’t. It seems to be an unrepresented subject area.
I thought I had one about socks – but I couldn’t find it.

If you don't wish to speak of that other gentleman, we won't - perhaps he's not to your taste - said the cute red head who just happened to be holding a wrinkly shirt.

Dear Cute Red Head with a wrinkly shirt, I have begun to write a New Epic Poem about laundry but I am stuck, so can you help? Here is what I have written so far, rather good even if I say so myselves


One day I was washing my soiled laundry
and by coincidental happenstance
all of the items of clothing were orange
so I thought.......

Cate, can you just quickly supply me with a selection of at least 25 words that rhyme with "orange" and then I can make progress. If you either capriciously refuse to co-operate or you are simply not clever enough to help, I will readily accept your apologies.

btw I agree with you, let's hope the stalker troll, William of Orange, does not dirty our dirty washing any more

Sue (in Baghdad, tomorrow in Dharfur, Saturday in Belize, Sunday in Tripoli)

Il est travail dur - de sorte que pour libre vous aplatissiez la chemise. ... This is a lot of work you'll iron my shirt for free.

25 mots

1. alfange, 2. archange, 3. Boulange, 4. démange, 5. dérange, 6. échange, 7. effrange, 8. engrange, 9. entre-mange, 10. étrange, 11. fange, 12. fontange, 13. frange, 14. gamétange, 15. libre-échange, 16. losange, 17. louange, 18. mélange, 19. mésange, 20. réarrange, 21. rechange, 22. remange, 23. sporange, 24. vendange, 25. vidange

en anglais

1. long-leaved lettuce, 2. archangel, 3. Boulange, 4. itch, 5. disturb, 6. exchange, 7. fray, 8. garner, 9. Eat between (snack), 10. Strange (also a common nickname for the name Sue), 11. mud, 12. head dress, 13. fringe, 14. some kind of plant thingy, 15. free trade, 16. rhombus, 17. praise, 18. mixture, 19. titmouse, 20. rearrange, 21. replacement, 22. eat again, 23. I’m not going to tell you what that is – hehehe - gross, 24. vintage, 25. draining

Just pick out the English word that fits your poem – write it in French – You’ll rhyme and look very suave to him at the same time.