Laundromat blues,
Laundromat blues,
Man, oh man, those laundromat blues,
This gig is so painful, it should be on the news.
Clothes spinning for hours and hours, going nowhere as they tumble and fight.
Disappointed that they aint goin nowhere with each go around. But that's just the cycle they be in, just like a lot of folks I know......, you know. Man..., I can't wait for that shit to end.
Using up all my minutes just sitting here watching..., waiting and watching, only to realize, that my story is being told, right before my eyes. Truth is..., I keep on trying, trying to clean up for a better life, because life comes in cycles. Sooner or later things have to turn around in my favor, it has to, otherwise it will be like that song, Killing me Softly.
Tumbling spinning as they wrestle with one another inside that damn machine, just like I do every day with all these damn Ignorant folks around me trying to tell me what to do. Somebody tell me....., please...., why I got to fight to pay rent and why I got to fight to pay my bills and why I got to fight folks just to keep them off my back?
It's funny how some folks fight to be on top, like them clothes do, only to find that top becomes bottom in the end. It's a never-ending cycle that becomes dizzying to say the least. Aint that some shit?
The way I see all this shit is like this, the cycle continues, for some a long time, so their experience has longevity. It all depends on the machine you get, not all cycles be the same. But for some folks, they livin so long they be out livin everyone they use to know. Now those folks...., they be lucky. They got a good machine. Aint that some shit?
Others move in cycles that don't last too long, and then it's over. Now aint that some tragic shit? Babies and kids and shit, with them short cycles, that aint too cool, lives cut short at a moment's notice, didn't see it coming, their machine just stops, clothes undone.
Wow..., who would have thought that watching these damn clothes, I'd be watching life. Sitting in this damn laundromat trying to figure out if my machine is working right, if life is working right. I'm trying to figure out if my cycles are long lasting or will I get short changed. But I guess in the long run, what really matters is whether or not the damn clothes get cleaned! Now..., that's the real shit!
YOU ARE READING
The Life and Times of Jackleg Johnson
PoetryLiving life can be hard sometimes. Jackleg Johnson has seen it all. In a series of poems, he tells a few of his stories and drops some Jackleg wisdom on us all.
