I Stop Writing the Poem

by Tess Gallagher

I Stop Writing the Poem

to fold the clothes. No matter who lives

or who dies, I'm still a woman.

I'll always have plenty to do.

I bring the arms of his shirt

together. Nothing can stop

our tenderness. I'll get back

to the poem. I'll get back to being

a woman. But for now

there's a shirt, a giant shirt

in my hands, and somewhere a small girl

standing next to her mother

watching to see how it's done.

: : : : : :

good poems travel through time and space to find you, but they find you--if you're listening. Really!

this one found me like a heat-seeking missile. it walked me through years of my life, including the days of standing by my mom's ironing board listening to michael jackson or watching sesame street. and then later, as a newlywed when i told bim, i don't iron men's shirts. do you know how? he did. now we have them dry cleaned, but i still do all the other laundry. i've always enjoyed laundry.

nothing wrong with warm, clean clothes.