laying with my laundry (prose)

I take my clothes out of the dryer immediately after the buzzer goes off.

I love how my hoodie holds onto the heat

and the muted aroma of the detergent my mama told me I should use

Today I threw my freshly dried clothes onto the bed and cast myself into their warmth.

While I lay in the linen,

I contended that this is my femininity.

I have some power here in this pile.

He always told me that doing the laundry was my job.

Maybe that's why I never did it.

Laying in my laundry made me realize that I do find joy in doing the task they say the women should do.

There’s something about a cycle that I understand so well.

I go through like 12 of them a year.

I lay in my laundry knowing that I completed another cycle. And I did it well.

I lay in the clothes that they stared me down in

I washed their gaze off of my linen.

Now I can breathe a little better.

I’m not mad at my mama or aunties for asking if I did my laundry

They knew how to lay with it before I did

I wish I learned sooner.