Dirty Laundry

This is a found poem made from phrases found on clothes labels and tags.

Like merchandise, men do not live long
Lasting every day below summer sun

Enduring without purpose, simple if swallowed
But strong men do not use softeners.

As established by World Tour of US flex,
Broken protection in Cambodia, in Honduras,

Made bleached paradises. Old men only care for oil
And bananas: offense for all in US republic

Free men follow directions:
Ask a doctor for daily purpose,

Remove hedonism with pride,
Hush freedom as needed.

Made for use in Vietnam, men spin cold and heavy,
Tumble, while warnings warm our pressed planet

Colors bleed as men wash away
Skin cleaned by iron and machine

Assembled without gentle cycles, men leather
Inside out, authentic only when rough,

Genuine only when fit in imported sweatshirts
Needed care, broken again. And, again

Like all man made, men do not live long

Artwork by Sandra Paris, “Mexican Wrestler”, 2022, mixed media on paper

Ricky Novaes de Oliveira lives and loves in Los Angeles. Growing from American and Brazilian roots, he writes about belonging, alienation, and cityscapes, with music playing in the background. Since graduating with an undergrad degree in Creative Writing, he is a full-time high school English teacher and a part-time poet. His published poems are in the University of Chicago Arts Magazine, California’s Best Emerging Poets 2019: An Anthology, and Rigorous. Follow him on IG @oliveira.poetry

Sandra Paris (b. 1977) is a French self-taught painter who lives and works near Paris. Follow her on IG @sandraparis_painting