Thursday, February 19, 2009

'Clotheslines'
by Larry Racunas

Those were days
of consensual green spirits,
long, airy walks,
wistful neighbors, whirling
windmills that sang to you.
That was a time
when the fresh, outdoor smell
of your laundry
did not mean your neighbor wanted to hang you.

Not a great poem, maybe, but he's from here, and the local paper published it, and that's worth something.  After I talked with the codes lady at Prairie Village City Hall, she published a little piece in our local rag (called the Village Voice - cute, huh) about the legality of hanging out wash.  It is, unless the homes association says no.  Now I've talked with my homes association president, who may be an undiscovered radical, and she's going to write about it in our next newsletter.  Do you think that's a tiny bit of progress?

I needed encouragement today.  After I eagerly opened up a package from Amazon only to find out that I'd misread the title and it was in Spanish, I opened the paper to the headline, "Demand for 'green' wilts with economy.  It seems that the minute folks have less money but cheaper gas, they start going for cheap gas-guzzlers again.  Where are the people who are going to save the beauty of our planet from ourselves?  

Enough - I think my New Year's resolution is to become less judgmental!

If you think I'm a little nutty when it comes to clotheslines, try visiting a great website, www.laundrylist.org.  That's where the true nuts gather.  There's even a section for laundry art.  





2 comments:

  1. I think your picture of kids pjs hanging on the line is better. =)

    I can't believe a home association would say you can't hang out your laundry!! What would happen to you if you hung it out anyway and the rule was no? Wow. I'm just amazed.

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  2. You know, we have an indoor clothes line in our basement. I'm so glad it's there!

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