What Folks Did

Forgetting and Forgotten

When I was a child

time was spent

cleaning things.

We lived with my grandparents

where cousins, aunts,

and uncles lived too.

Monday was wash day

many loads kept

the agitator humming.

Laundry suds were

saved in buckets to wash

the floors or the cars.

Tuesday was ironing day

with 5 boards set up

in the basement.

I sat on the stairs watching

the women's technique

and learned to iron.

I’m a visual learner

It’s not as if I’ve forgotten

You, I’ll visualize you

If I can’t see you like a plant

Called a Jerusalem Artichoke

A vegetable I had to look it up

On Google, Oh yes, it’s a tuber

That grows in my garden

Beneath the ground, and then

Of course there’s first names

So many Bill’s and John’s

Mary’s and Joan’s

Is that’s why we have last

Names, trying to keep it straight

So much to confuse my memory.