Folding a Life

"I think of folding you into my life."
Sorting Laundry

An extended metaphor comparing the speaker's lover and life to laundry characterizes Sorting Laundry.  Even though it is never specifically said, I believe the different things she folds represent her life. The towels represent trying to have tradition, and to keep pride and hope. The pillowcases represent the dreams they have strived to have come true. The pockets represent the joys of daily life, and the "strangely tailored shirt" their lives before one another. To me, these all seemed to point towards a life on a budget, as many young couples live. These glimpses into the life that the lovers share all also seem to revolve around the speaker's fear of losing her lover. At the beginning, and again at the end, the speaker talks about the idea of him being gone. Because all of the laundry "could not fill the empty side of the bed," the reader is able to understand that the lover is needed, and is irreplaceable.