in the laundromat
i reside on arch angel michael’s shoulder
because angels also have an allotted shoulder angel and shoulder devil
cartoonish figures that play with their perfect hair
and glowing earlobes
it’s just that which is which is never clear
as in we all fall again and again
only this time god picks us back up
and puts us on the gardenia-scented toga
like a squirming boutonniere
so we can learn what being an angel means
how i got so lucky to scrabble the shoulders of
arch angel michael is
truly a machination beyond my comprehension
much like the combustion engine
or the washing machine
something rotates
and i am where i am
the purpose of this education is
yet to be disclosed
much like the washing of humanity
but i wish it was harder to believe
that some would unzip
their humanity
leave it dirty on someone else’s floor
and never come back for it–
arch angel michael
takes all the unzipped humanity
and bundles it into ripped angel arms
and trundles it in a broken street cart
wheels bumping along
privatized pot holes
to the landromat
air fried with heat and chemicals
to see what’s salvageable
angels mill the ‘mat
checking the digital numbers
on heavenly screens
the daytime tv is always good
and always god
and never humans
here to dirty up the floor
no one has to vacuum and mop
hourly
from the treadless angels’ errands
floating spotless
not even a shadow
drips from their dangling toes
to the tiles
but the crumpled skin suits
some people left behind
they shed filth when
arch angel michael
snaps each one open
with a practice wrist flick
the unzipped humanity swirls in a dizzying array of machines
sometimes the cycle is merely spent leaving the churning washer
just to find it again
like hide and seek with a bunch of skin
i watch arch angel michael
pull the soggy slips from the porthole of mystery
and briefly consider the dirty water
gone somewhere down the cloud pipes
to come out as acid rain somewhere else
i’m told
and bring the laden basket to the shimmering fields
of the sky where the sun takes all the time he wants
to uv-sanitize whatever is left
and dry out the creases
airplanes ruin the effect
scenting humanity in layers of filth
just after it was washed.