untitled (‘My mother said’)

My mother said
not to put it in the dryer.
All that heat! all that wind!
Hang it under the verandah.
Don’t go out to the laundromat
with its strangers, bad coffee, trashy magazines.
Stay home, stoke the kitchen fire.

My mother said not
to put my identity in the dryer
but I did
and it came up
fluffy and gorgeous.