Wet clothing pinned and clipped on lines
Towels and pants on one high end,
Sheets and shirts other end of twines,
Hanging down low as centers bend.
Oh, for a strong wind to play,
Coming across and sweeping away
The blues, the whites, and the gray,
Onto tractor windows, passing this day.
I have had much experience with laundry on the line, years and years of it.
I wrote this poem with a head full of memories and my mother's commands to hang the underwear in the middle of the second line, out of sight. "We don't want neighbors to see what we wear."
Neighbors? The nearest lived a half a mile away. The lines were behind the house. But I was obedient.
If anyone wants to sing the praises of laundry drying on clothesline, go ahead. I will not be agreeing with you. Too many images carrying laundry basket after each other has left me with a desire to never hang clothes out blowing in the wind. Sorry.
This is a repost from 2015 in A-Z Blogfest, U is for Underwear. Dang it, it was entertaining to my brain to toss around.
Towels and pants on one high end,
Sheets and shirts other end of twines,
Hanging down low as centers bend.
But, in the middle, too shy to publicly fly,
Hangs the underwear, bleached and white.
Playing hide and seek from those near-by,
Wanting oh-so-badly to take flight.
Oh, for a strong wind to play,
Coming across and sweeping away
The blues, the whites, and the gray,
Onto tractor windows, passing this day.
Bras, panties with hearts, boxers brave
Landing square on a farmer's face,
No dignity there is left to save,
Underwear at last has found a place.
I have had much experience with laundry on the line, years and years of it.
I wrote this poem with a head full of memories and my mother's commands to hang the underwear in the middle of the second line, out of sight. "We don't want neighbors to see what we wear."
Neighbors? The nearest lived a half a mile away. The lines were behind the house. But I was obedient.
If anyone wants to sing the praises of laundry drying on clothesline, go ahead. I will not be agreeing with you. Too many images carrying laundry basket after each other has left me with a desire to never hang clothes out blowing in the wind. Sorry.
This is a repost from 2015 in A-Z Blogfest, U is for Underwear. Dang it, it was entertaining to my brain to toss around.
My mother always hung laundry on our clothes line. So much work! I've never had to use one. In the cities, automatic dryers existed.
ReplyDeleteWe hung laundry until I was a teenager. Still had to iron, but when Mom got a real washer, it was like it was a gift from Heaven.
DeleteI agree with you, i never want to see another clothes line, i the GIRLchild was the laundress, including the maytag wringer, and the two rinses in tubs and from there to the lines and wait until dry and into the house and sprinkled with a coke bottle with a stopper full of holes and on to the ironing board. I LOVE my washer dryer
ReplyDeleteYou and I are sisters! You write out my experiences, down to the coke bottle.
DeleteA washer and dryer were amazing.
Washer, dryer, wash and wear clothes. The only way to go.
ReplyDeleteLife is simple, isn't it?
DeleteDespite the additional effort I much prefer the scent and the feel of sun dried clothes. We have a drier and use it as little as possible.
ReplyDeletePart of our experience was that we raised hogs, so the dust and smell required us to pay attention to all.
DeleteThis was fun. What I remember hanging out was diapers. I really did not know there were rules for hanging clothes. I always just hung what was next in the basket. But since I have gotten older I have heard OLD people say there were rules for underwear, I didn't know that.
ReplyDeleteAny thanks for the entertainment. We enjoyed the visit
Always love when you stop by. OLD people?
DeleteMy mum never cared. She'd say "everyone wears underpants, even the Queen and if anyone is uncomfortable seeing ours that's their shame not mine."
DeleteI feel fortunate to have been born after clotheslines were largely a thing of the past.
ReplyDeleteYou were one lucky girl.
DeleteNo washer and dryer until I was married and had a baby. I hung plenty of diapers until we bought a used washer and dryer.
ReplyDeleteWe used cloth diapers until Pampers came along.
DeleteI used cloth nappies even after disposable ones came along. I just don't see the sense in paying money every single week for years for something that gets thrown away.
DeleteYou don't see many clothes lines these days.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Victor: come to Australia, they're everywhere.
DeleteThat picture could have been me and my mum 65 years ago, except we only had two lines running the length of the backyard, from house almost to fence. Then we got a hills hoist and we could almost stand in one spot and spin the line to get to the next section. I still prefer line dried clothes over machine dried, it's the one thong I enjoy most about spring and summer, bringing in armfuls of sunshine-smelling clothes and linens.
ReplyDeleteYou had a set-up, organized. Great memory.
Delete"thong"? duh! should be thing.
ReplyDeleteI was trying to imagine hanging thongs on the line.
DeleteI'm SO lucky. I bought a house that still has a clothes line. I use it in the summer. The clothes smell SO much fresher when they come inside. Over the years, I have determined instead of hanging clothes on the line, I place them on hangers (plastic) and hang the hangers on the line. Clothes dry nicely, no need to fold or iron, either. As for undies, they'll stay in the house to dry on hangers, thank you. In the winter, I use the dryer like "normal people."
ReplyDeleteOn hangers? What a good idea.
DeleteI used to do the weekly laundry for my family of nine in order to get out of doing dishes that day. For me it was a bargain. I would not want to do it again though. Washing them in the wringer washer, hanging them on the line, and taking them in when they were dry was only the beginning. Folding and putting away those things that didn't need ironing was next. Sprinkling and rolling those that did need ironing was last for the day. I also got out of doing the dishes the next day because I was willing to do the ironing too. Can you tell I didn't like to do dishes?
ReplyDeleteYou sound like you were down the road from our farm. I did all of that! On top of the washing marathon, then there was the ironing. Most clothing was cotton.
DeleteThere was a famous home owner in Galveston who came home one day from work and rounded the corner in his carriage to see, to his dismay, his daughter's bloomers hanging on the line. He had a wall built to hide the family wash.
ReplyDeleteTo preserve clothes longer, i don't dry my items in a dryer, but i use an indoor drying rack for my stuff.
When we lived in Ireland, we used the line 100% of the time. The dryer was for school uniforms.
DeletePoor guy. Other clothing items will be seen, no matter what.
Reminders of my childhood. We had the clotheslines in the backyard, propped up with props...along with the wood-burning copper.
ReplyDeleteTake care. :)
And now all underwear goes in the tumble dryer. :D
ReplyDelete