The Everyday Housewife

[Erthona]

Endemic in the Modern Western world is a vague and persistent melancholy, as idle hands are idle too often, as all needs are met and there are only wants on which to focus and try to decide which of those that are lacking are the cause of my unhappiness.

A nice depressing poem Roy.

This phrase seemed a bit off.

"Yes, even the Maytag dryer
itself exists only to the extent
a listless, circling panorama
therein housed."

The "only to the extant listless" part.

I think the natural breaks might dictate a slightly longer line, plus it puts the juxtapositions mostly on the same line.

"She watches clothes dry through plate glass,
adjusting her physical being--legs open and arms folded,
gives in to discursive thought.
So perceptive this watcher of scramble,
but without care to know (the) formal tensions
going on inside the dryer."

For me the longer lines make the reading smoother, but that's purely a personal preference in terms of the style. To me though, the longer lines seem to fit with the somewhat sedate physical setting, although an argument could be made that the shorter lines fit the emotional state better. I still prefer the longer line, as it make the reading easier.

I like this line "legs open and arms folded". It conjures up a number of connotations.

Not sure I care of the word "scramble" where you use it. Maybe it has another meaning of which I am unaware.

All in all a nice sketch poem of the ennui of contemporary life.

Dale