Laudate Laundry Day

“Laudate Laundry Day”

Glitchy neon advertises open 24/7

a broken dryer and the ADHD propensity for procrastination propelled me into this industrial desert at 13 minutes past Saturday’s noon

I don’t do this often thanks to the luxury of in-home laundry days,where my intimates are afforded their privacy

But not today

And it’s hot today

August’s infancy feeling more like the “Terrible Toos”

Too humid

Too heavy

Too hard to breathe

Too many people

dragged from the gentle shelter of home

drudged through this maze of machined metal

Marching to the silver chink of quarters spilling from lint-lined pockets to play the slots

wash-rinse-spin the winnings tumble-dry into waiting collection baskets

gathered, sorted, folded, and hoarded away until next time

something spiritual in the mundane

absolution in the creases of meniality

pilgrimage through infernal heat to this purgatorial sanctuary

penance for some unconfessed transgression

Or maybe it’s civilization’s way of reminding us of our roots and the river-washing days

Either way, it hums holy

And I, acolyte or priestess, I know not,

stand gathering sacramental garments in earshot of one of my fellow pilgrims

The rasp of her last cigarette, a stinging insect in her throat

Beads of sweat gathered on my brow, a baptismal rosary,

clones of the condensation on her half-drunk can of Diet Coke that sits deflating

as she drones nonsensically over the benign thunder of agitators and dryer drums

hot as the black August asphalt

It starts to sound like prayer

Now hymn

Now doxology

And I grab the bedsheet altar cloth and begin to fold

Top to bottom

Left to right

Signum crucis

Amen.