4. Sorting Laundry

"Folding clothes, I think of folding you into my life." line 1

In this poem, I think sorting laundry is an extended metaphor for the woman trying to figure out what she wants. As she is folding the laundry, she is sorting the details of wanting to be with a man. The speaker uses many similes and metaphors to express that what the woman wants is the man in her life. It seems to me that this couple has had a pretty rocky relationship, and the woman is fighting to keep it together. Each simile/metaphor is an argument for why she wants to be with him. "All those wrinkles to be smoothed" refers to the issues they need to work out. "is tough to discard" is representing how hard it would be for the woman to let him and their memories together go. "In pockets, surprises" is the connection that will grow between them in time. As they continue to get to know each other, there will be surprises that will bring them closer. In the end, the woman realizes that what she wants is for them to be together. But, through the line, "left by a former lover. . . ." we see the woman is afraid the man will leave her. The end of the poem ties the metaphor of laundry together. Not being with this man will be like "a mountain of unsorted wash."