Sorting Laundry by Elisavietta Ritchie

Thursday, September 23, 2010 9:34 PM Posted by Emily Looney
While I was reading this poem, I was thinking about how poems are awesome because they can compare the craziest thing to something completely unrelated and yet it just works.

Laundry compared to love. Not exactly the expected comparison! I really like the comparison though because it's unusual and because when it is put in the terms that Ritchie put it in, love sounds comfortable and nice.

The speaker speaks about her love as if she has lost him or as if he has gone away. It's hard to tell if he is permanently gone, but he is on some sort of journey or is not with her at the present time. She mentions Kuwait, so maybe he is a soldier and fighting in far away countries. She speaks about how simple their love is by mentioning small things like "pocket surprises" such as "forgotten matches/lost screws clinking the drain." I imagine a woman doing her laundry and finding her lover's clothes mixed in with hers bringing back memories of them together and putting her into a day dreamy mood.

"All those wrinkles
To be smoothed, or else
ignored; they're in style."

This is my favorite stanza. It brings to mind the thought that even though the couple has had a few wrinkles in the past, they accept them and continue on because their love is so strong. I like that she is ignoring the wrinkles by saying they are in style, so they ignore their differences because they are in love.

It's a great love poem...possibly one of the best that I have read because it is simple and easy for most people to read since it includes a common practice like laundry.

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