Launderette

[atiguhya padma]

In Market Street Launderette
People sit and stare at the hubs
That continuously go round and round
As if they were crystal balls
Telling futures

A plate glass window
Displays them all to the world
Not like a car showroom
More like an exhibit

They come here to wash away their sorrows
To be cleansed of the world
Their world of endless similarity
Their clothes stained with life
With cheap beer, with cheap tea
With solitary love

A tumble dryer whirrs its way
And when all is done
It is as if nothing ever really happened
As if reborn, renewed, repeatedly
Denied and discarded
The blessing of the water-borne.

And there they gather. To return once again.
To contemplate the revolutions
Of predictable machines.

Launderettes. They sound so feminine.
Like places of youth and dance.
But instead passers-by walk on
Or glance guiltily at the customers
In Market Street Launderette

[amuse]

ah. this i like. the mundane and ordinary transcended, then brought back to earth.

[Miranda]

I like this too - it exactly mirrors the atmosphere of a launderette somehow. I like the line 'launderettes. They sound so feminine.' The word does sound like something feminine and a 'place for youth and dance' - kind of like 'discotheque.'

[Koa]

ah. this i like. the mundane and ordinary transcended, then brought back to earth.

True!

I love this:
Their clothes stained with life
With cheap beer, with cheap tea
With solitary love
Very deep, methinks.

I don't like much the fact that it opens and closes with the same line stating the place, it reminds me of an old style poem, or of a sort of nursery rhyme, which in my opinion doesn't fit too well with the 'practical' but deep atmosphere of the rest... Nevermind anyway, just a thought :)

[atiguhya padma]

Thanks Koa.

I must admit I wrote this in a hurry, in a 5 minute frenzy at work. I would certainly have revised it and taken more care otherwise.

I agree that the beginning/end bit is like a nursery rhyme style. What I intended, was to give a feeling of repetition and the cyclical nature of poverty. Launderette's (or their absence in a neighbourhood) are very indicative of levels of affluence, and this is what I wanted to convey in the poem.


Anyway, I agree with your comments. Thanks.

AP

[emily655321]

As if reborn, renewed, repeatedly
Denied and discarded
I love these lines. :) They could even stand alone and have just as much power.

[Isagel]

I liked these lines:

"A plate glass window
Displays them all to the world
Not like a car showroom
More like an exhibit"

I can´t remember the name of the man who painted "Benzin" - a painting of a gas station at night, looking still and deserted, like an exhibit under the bright streetlights. This poem reminds me of his paintings mostly because of that part of the poem. I did not know about the launderette's as away of "measuring" affluence but still the poem gave a feeling of emptiness , like those paintings.

[fayefaye]

I like this very much too. Every time I get to a poem thread somebody's already been and posted up what I was thinking [namely amuse].
Ati took something ordinary.... and somehow made it ... sort of transcendental [damn! can't even think of my own words] Anyway, that's a mark of brilliance, I think.

Everybody's already highlighted my fave quotes, so I was just going to say I find this line interesting:

People sit and stare at the hubs
That continuously go round and round
As if they were crystal balls
Telling futures

Because it perfectly highlights what it's like to be sitting somewhere; laundrette, waiting room, etc, staring at a wall. I always find it sort of interesting how people do that; don't even pretend to be interested in what's going on around them......