the monster was dragged out
filled up and let loose
on a week’s worth of washing
(sheets on alternate weeks)
it’s belly gurgled
as its guts were twisted
now and again it would spit out froth
dribble grey water onto the lino
make the windows cry with condensation
for the rest of the week it was silent
waiting in the corner for Mondays
I particularly like the windows crying with condensation, Sarah
I like the idea of the “monster” back when Monday was “wash day”.
Yes, the monster! I like the ‘dribble grey water onto the lino’.
Brill, so reminiscent of Mondays back then. It was always a day of toil and bubbles and noise and heaving soggy sheets. We had an electric mangle which through which Mum would feed the sheets and towels to squeeze the water out, fascinated me!
my gran had a mangle but it had to be hitched on and operated by hand – thought introducing images of jaws mangling wet washing might be overdoing it so left it out – thank you to everyone for commenting