Sorting Laundry

Elisaviette Ritche's poem Sorting Laundry conveys the speaker's relationship with the person being spoken to as a withstanding and loving partnership. This analysis of the woman's relationship with the man she loves is discovered through symbolic use of words such as "head over heals" "wrinkled to be smoothed, or else ignored" "and seams still holding our dreams,"(Ritche, pg 841). All of these referring to laundry but symbolic of the two's relationship. The extended metaphor giving the idea to the reader that the kind of relationship being  discussed is flawed, but works out. The two deeply love each other and enjoy one another's company even after some time: "recycling week after week,"(Ritche, line 17, pg 841). The tone in the first 14 short stanzas, all describing the items the speaker is folding and revealing their symbolism, is reflective but shifts in the last few stanzas. Once the speaker calls to mind a former lover of hers upon discovering his shirt amongst the pile, the speaker becomes more worrisome. The speaker ponders what would happen if the person being addressed would leave her, just as her former lover has gone. This idea shows a drastic shift from positive thinking and focusing on the good in the relationship, to troublesome over possibilities of a relationship no more. Overall the change in tone help to depict the speaker's internal worry amidst a situation that seemingly is going so well.