scrub, scrub, scrub/good and clean

We are, once again, the proud owners of a washing machine that works! (Insert happy little dance here.) I only have fifty-thousand loads of laundry to wash now -- score!

I'll treat you to a poem from Eve Merriam's Blackberry Ink, in just a moment. Last week, I took a leisurely trip to Savers, alone (hello summer break). I was half-heartedly glancing over the children's books, when Blackberry Ink caught my eye (another one of those "eye" cliches that grosses me out). It was tucked between a Full House book and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. I also found a signed (dedicated to someone else, but signed nonetheless) copy of Too Many Murphys by Colleen O'Shaughnessy McKenna. I love the notes in the fronts of books; I feel like the handwritten dedications and scrawled names give the books character.

So, here's the poem, a la Eve Merriam's Blackberry Ink:

Swish, swash,
Washing machine.
Swish, swash,
Make it clean.

Swish, swash,
Bubble and spin.
Swish, swash,
Pack it all in.

Mishmash,
Jeans and sheets,
T-shirts and towels,
And a skirt with pleats.

Mishmash,
Three odd socks,
An old rag doll,
And a terry-cloth fox.

Swish, swash,
Washing machine.
Swish, swash,
Clean all clean.

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P.S. I bought a new scale today, because weighing myself is one of my very favorite activities. In the "Care and Maintenance" section of the instruction sheet, is the following: "An occasional wiping with a soft cloth and mild soap will keep your scale attractive. Do not use abrasive cleaners. Your scale does not require oiling or lubrication of any kind." I just don't seem to have a special enough relationship with my scale. I've never thought of a scale's attractiveness and I've certainly never thought to oil or lubricate one.