Bleach: An Extrapolation

I only watch TV when I’m folding laundry, a product
of my Very Busy Life, a product of my knowledge
that I’ll die without having spent very many moments living.

This is where I make piercing observations
about the difference between a stain — something left behind,
tomato climbing woven fibers

–and something bleached, altered
fundamentally and irreversibly,
warm flush drained from its well-worn face.

This is where I shake my head, change the channel,
realize how ridiculous and just like me it is
to find you in a mayonnaise stain I can’t get out of my favorite pair of pants.

Krista Cox lives in South Bend, Indiana, where she studies English at Indiana University and practices English as a paralegal. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Analecta, scissors & spackle, and FREE MONSTER POEMS ABOUT MONSTERS. Her OKCupid profile is a work of creative literary genius.