Transformation
by Kimberly Hiatt
I ride the elevator down from floor 17 to 3,
drifting to the condo laundry room with my tiny bag
of tiny clothes and tiny blankets and tiny socks. Oh, those socks.
Ripe with my secret joy, I feel like that silly black cat
in the old cartoons, struggling to hold the canary in his closed mouth
as the bird works confidently to push himself out and into freedom.
I had a baby girl five days ago.
People are cramming dirty laundry into washers,
reading gossip magazines while waiting to retrieve
red-hot bed sheets and under things.
I hold my daughter’s first load of laundry to my face,
a talisman to shield me from the stale air of the
communal laundry room.
I inhale my new life.
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Kimberly Hiatt is a freelance writer living in Plainfield, Illinois. In addition to stealthily writing in the wee hours of the night, Kimberly enjoys spending time with her husband, Paul, and their two children, Sophia and Hudson. Kimberly's poems have also appeared in William Penn University's literary journal, Penn'n Ink.
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