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Hello Friends,
It's Friday--and time for some poetry! Thank you, Kat for hosting our round-up this week. Send us some sun, girl. I've been stuck in frozen snow and ice for days. No school this week until tomorrow on a delayed opening. I can't complain. I've caught up on some "me time."
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| https://famouspaintings.com/featured/the-washerwoman-kazimir-malevich.html |
Bare Feet
Are foundation
to her scaffold of bones,
sinew, muscle
working shoulders,
pounding hands,
scrubbing fingers,
throaty hum.
This is the first
and best part
of a day.
Scents of sweat,
work, worry, and play
rise from steam
as washerwoman
coaxes soap into seams,
collars, peaks and,
valleys of laundry.
This copper wash tub
matches her strength,
paints her forearms
and knuckles with patina.
She is industry with heart
making clean what higher born
but weaker made souls
have soiled.
She is necessary
glad to be of use
and the coin she earns
from washing.
You've drawn me right into the moment, Linda, and I am that bare footed washerwoman. Word choice is wonderful; scaffold, sinew, throaty, 'coaxes soap into seams, collars, peaks and valleys'. Strong sensory images. (Kazimir Malevich put such a load on those feet.) PS I am jealous of your snow! ❄️
ReplyDeleteIt's been unusually mild here, which would be nice, except for the never-ending rain - it was the wettest December on record, which, with the grey skies that accompany all the rain, has been making for a rather depressing winter!
ReplyDeleteLinda, Getting out into a sunshine world today felt so liberating. Your poem Bare Feet had me intrigued. These lines spoke to me: paints her forearms/and knuckles with patina/She is industry with heart...You not only described the washerwoman but gave her a strong purpose in life. If the world could only find words to commend people perhaps we would be better off.
ReplyDelete