Member Poem

Mother did the dishes
Weeks at a time
Precarious, they stacked
Balanced, they dried

Mother did the dishes
Somehow they never seemed to fall
Never knew how she managed it
Stacked as they were

Granny did the dishes
Until the day she died
Scrubbed away the stains
Washed the plastic, paper and glass; all just the same

Granny did the dishes
‘Till they fell apart
Never knew how she did it
Took chunks out of metal parts

I tried to do the dishes
Standing on a chair
Flooded the kitchen floor
And soaked right through my clothes

I tried to do the dishes
Got water everywhere
Never knew how I managed it
Doing dishes meant I mopped the floor

Father does the dishes
All washed in a machine
Left alone it’s supposed to
Leave a shining gleam

Father does the dishes
Somehow they’re never clean
Never knew how he managed it
Even with his fancy machine