There was once a box and on it green cool water
falling, a happy housewife, everything green as spring
it promised…makes ironing a breeze. Simple as 1-2-3.
Niagara Instant Starch.You’d bend down, we’d bend
down, fill the tubwith cold cold water, pour in the powder,
swirl itround and round, dip clothes in, dip, dip until
our hands ached with the chill, until the collars of your
son stood tireless, upright the dresses of your daughters
crisp and motionless.
But what if you had decided to put down the wash,
leave the clothes floppy, unstarched. What if you
had decided to get off that train, the engine of custom
no longer driving, and said, “It’s the other Niagara today.”
Boarded that train. What if we had ridden for hours
and hours, run back and forth all afternoon to grab
soda and chips from the dining car,
felt the breeze on us as soon as we got to the Falls,
what if we had finally arrived – amazed and happy!
as if we had been parched for years, and then sudden
water, cascading.
Top Bigstock photo by digitalphotonut
