Hello Poetry
Submit your work and get some sparkles! Create free account
those folks hired white help, maybe a Mex to tend to the yards but they let old lady Latty wash their soiled sheets, bath towels and undergarments they sent out their fine clothes for that new process called dry cleaning, a magic Latty would never fathom--how you gonna clean anything without water steaming, lye and labor of love but Latty knew those folks whose shit-stained drawers she was scrubbing had more secrets than money, and she knew to keep lips God gave her closed for nobody need know about the joy juice that was on the sheets when the man of the house was gone, and the towels covered with the seed part of that weren't none of Latty's business what sins were seeping under the cracks of those fine wood doors, or what other rich as Croesus gents were walking softly on the polished floors Latty was off Mondays, but not on the Sabbath, for it was often the eve of that holy day when the most soiling was done and that didn't bother her none for Sundays the folks was mostly gone to church, and whatever sinning was to be had took its rest like the Lord did, unless sitting in a pew with a man you never loved counts as such Tulsa, 1908
0
May 19, 2017
May 19, 2017 at 8:25 PM UTC
that washerwomen, colored
those folks hired white help, maybe a Mex to tend to the yards but they let old lady Latty wash their soiled sheets, bath towels and undergarments they sent out their fine clothes for that new process called dry cleaning, a magic Latty would never fathom--how you gonna clean anything without water steaming, lye and labor of love but Latty knew those folks whose shit-stained drawers she was scrubbing had more secrets than money, and she knew to keep lips God gave her closed for nobody need know about the joy juice that was on the sheets when the man of the house was gone, and the towels covered with the seed part of that weren't none of Latty's business what sins were seeping under the cracks of those fine wood doors, or what other rich as Croesus gents were walking softly on the polished floors Latty was off Mondays, but not on the Sabbath, for it was often the eve of that holy day when the most soiling was done and that didn't bother her none for Sundays the folks was mostly gone to church, and whatever sinning was to be had took its rest like the Lord did, unless sitting in a pew with a man you never loved counts as such Tulsa, 1908
spysgrandson
Written by
American
May 19, 2017
May 19, 2017 at 8:25 PM UTC
Request permission to use this poem