"Sorting Laundry"

“Sorting Laundry” by Elisavietta Ritche

Tone

The tone in the first thirteen stanzas of the poem reflects a positive nature to the speaker’s relationship with her lover. The speaker reflects their attitude through the imagery of laundry. “All those wrinkles to be smoothed, or else ignored,” (Ritche, 841). Through this metaphor the speaker is able to convey that there are problems in her relationship, but they do not need to be pressed and focused on fixing them. “So many shirts and skirts and pants recycling week after week, head over heels recapitulating themselves,” (Ritche, 841). The two lovers never seem to get tired of each other. This trend of items of laundry conveying a healthy relationship continues until the tone shifts in the fourteenth stanza. For example, “You brought from Kuwait, the strangely tailored shirt left by a former lover,” (Ritche, 842). The old shirt brings up memories from a previous lover. The tone shifts from positive and healthy to worry. The speaker does not want to be a former lover as she says “a mountain of unsorted wash could not fill the empty side of the bed,” (Ritche, 842).