UE

Unbalanced load, 
the error said. I have been trying 
for hours—reload the tub; 

reposition the drum; reread the manual;
keep it levelled, whatever that means. 
The machine 

rests on bricks when we first moved in, 
and these red shoes it has donned ever
since. Stalwart, 

reliable receptacle, until now, 
giving up 
as I pulled

wet garments out of the tub 
like strings, and at the end 
of the rope another, yet another, 

up on the clothesline, 
suspended, wrung over my back 
as I hung them

up again 
one sleeve 
at a time.

Dale Chou
2019-06-16