Was just informed this weekend that my poem “Housekeeper”(see below) was chosen along with six other poems in a poetry contest! The contest is sponsored by Bellingham Repertory Dance Company and Chuckanut Sandstone Writers Theater. The seven poems will be interpreted in dance while being read out loud in the popular annual event “Phrasings” April 1-3 2011. What an honor!
“Reunion and Back Again” by Scott Stodola
“Beachcombing” by Katelyn Hales
“World Cup” by Susan M. Schultz
“From Wire Fetters” by Katelyn Hales
“The Visitors” by Cathy Ross
“Taproot” by Carla Shafer
“Housekeeper” by Shannon Laws
****************
People of all types
Come and go to my hotel
The same room will house
Many different lives
Some stay for less than eight hours
Others for days
Each time I reset the room
Removing the evidence of a life
I know them now when they walk in
Not by name or by hometown
I know them by their stains
The marks left behind, that I clean
For you I’ll find wine rings
Dried on the tables
Some spills on the sheets
Bottles in the garbage
For you I’ll find diapers
Filling both waste baskets
Spit-up on the bed cover
A travel crib I’ll have to take down
For you I’ll find almost nothing
You made your bed before leaving
Your shower was too quick to dirty
Changing the sheets I’ll find a sock
I clean the room
The same room
Over and over
I clean you away
Washing the tub
Scrubbing off the ring
Removing the hair
Wiping down the mirror
Dusting the room
Making the bed
Vacuuming it all away
You are gone
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shannon p. laws 