Love Poem: Tumble dry
John Bird Avatar
Written by: John Bird

Tumble dry

I have to become something
It will iron out my faults
Like a shirt with too many creases that still needs to be worn 
I’m a bed sheet with too many stains and too many folds from restless nights

It’s okay when the sheet has a history 
Has a memory 
Has a past 
Has the time you spent with your future wrapped in a ball all broken and stretched  
Has the times you spent recovering from the heartbreak of the time 
Watching the Simpsons on repeat until you mix her name with homers and laugh to yourself in a hungry sadness
I want to become part of a life not a thing to be discarded because it’s damage causes more disgust than it does sentiment 
What can a piece of fabric with holes cut out and black marks in its middle be if not a work of art 
To be admired by some and misunderstood by many 
Where does it go

Does it go with all the others
Burnt recycled washed and repurposed 
Into the machine
Into the personalised fix for one hundred pound a week
Into the wash to be made anew 
Something the same as before but without the scars of its past
I don’t want to be new 
I want to be me 
I want to be seen 
I want to be wanted 
The black marks not defining my value  
And making more while finding something new when being wrapped up in it  
All stained, torn, and marked
Beautifully marked