Dirty Laundry

Dirty Laundry

You asked me not to love you
Took my soul
Torque and twisted
Until darkness flowed
Like well used oil
In a steady stream.
Rat-a-tat tat
Onto the
Waiting white paper

All I could do was watch
As it ran down your arm
And dripped dripped
Onto my just cleaned
Creamed linoleum floor

That's going to leave a stain
I thought
And the cat will walk through it
And make tracks all through the house
Everyone will know
It's me

And they'll peer through the glass
See bits of this and that
Say I never imagined
She seemed so clean
Wrung and hung out to dry
Misshapen
And flapping in the wind.