Gustave Caillebotte, Laundry Drying, Petit Gennevilliers (1892),
oil on canvas, 106 x 151 cm, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. WikiArt..png

Laundry Day 1954
by Sharmagne Leland-St.John

A hot summer day,
warm breezes blowing,
we skipped,
my sister and I,
in between
the perfume scented sheets 
the embroidered pillow slips 
while Nanny hung them 
on the line to dry.

The cool wetness
gently slapping us
in the face as we played tag
under the clouded sky
barefoot in the dry grass
beneath the taut line
stretched  across 
the back garden
between
two avocado trees

“Mind you don’t get them dirty, Girls,” she’d admonish
as we laughed and ran hand in hand
in and out of the billowing whiteness 
of our bed linens

         dreaming of night time
         with prayers said and all tucked in,
         they’d hug us to sleep

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