the outlaw poetry network

Friday, November 20th, 2009...12:55 pm

matt borkowski | laundromats

Laundromats

poor people go to laundromats,
very rarely will you see rich people in laundromats,
rich people usually own their own washers and dryers;
and they can even
hire someone to do their laundry,
if they care to.

what kind of people go to laundromats?
well, all kinds really, but rarely the rich,
but all of them, with hardly any exceptions
are people who like clean clothes,
and towels and sheets, also.

anyone that didn’t want clean clothes would be foolish
to go to a laundromat!
(unless they came to meet somebody that wanted clean clothes,
or possible use the change machine, which usually says it’s for
customers only, though some people ignore the sign and use them
anyway, cause they’re desperate for change)

and then again,
sometimes you see people who are homeless, sitting in
laundromats to sleep, or get out of the cold and rain,
but they aren’t supposed to be there, and are usually told to
leave if the management catches them
and notices they aren’t doing their laundry.

but all in all,
I consider laundromats a good thing.
not as good as public libraries,
but still a good thing;
before there were laundromats
poor people had to take their dirty clothing down to the river
and beat it with sticks,
sometimes the water was muddy
and the clothing became dirtier than it was before,

then, they would have to wring them out, by hand,
and hang them on branches and rocks out in the sun,
and if it started to rain they’d be totally screwed, the
entire process went to hell.

people often wore dirty and wet clothing in the old days,
before laundromats,

yeah, laundromats are pretty good.

maybe someone should start a National Laundromat Day,
a special day, and every poor and lower middle-class person
who uses laundromats could take five minutes out of their day
and
stop in the laundromat of their choice ( or the one they usually use)
and say,

Thank You……Thank You, Laundromat- for being here!

and shake the laundromat attendants hand and
smile,

and then maybe wash their clothes

–Matt Borkowski