Here's our Saturday poems:
American style,
Saturday pancakes with syrup
you fashion ears and limbs,
dough menagerie shapes.
Pancakes hot from the plate,
children swoop, as hawks wait
for prey to emerge from grass.
You spear one or two
for the plate, drizzle the maple
and look at me, our children.
Mention in passing that
the coffee tastes like cigarettes.
Kristin Hannaford
Saturday wash
up to my elbows in suds
doing the Saturday wash
dreaming of Mrs Beaton
all her some days finally realized
with the mechanical washing machine
no handle necessary
but the general principles of washing
set forth in her chapter on laundry work
naturally apply to machine washing
first the linen is examined for grease spots
damp stains, fruit stains, ink stains, tea and wine stains
removed according to the chapter on household hints
then each article is entered in the washing book
before soaking in a tub of lukewarm water overnight
to which a little soda or borax is added
early on the following morning fires are lit
hot water procured and the washing can begin
experienced washerwomen rub one linen surface against the other
I plunge into buckets and scrub with soap
doomed to turn all my clothing yellow
no bluing, bleaching or starching will improve their colour
outside the air is fresh, a good drying wind blows
I string out a line of smalls and socks doubling the pegs
sniff the sheets and towels, watch the shadows dance
Heather Matthew
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