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8th September, 2023

Friday Poem – ‘Angels on the Washing Lines’ by Sue Hubbard

Black and white image of laundry blowing in the wind on a washing line

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Angels on the Washing Lines’ by Sue Hubbard from her new collection God’s Little Artist which details the life and work of Welsh artist Gwen John (1876 – 1939).

Angels on the Washing Lines
She hangs her wet stockings
outside the attic window.
Her petticoat and white muslin blouse
to drip-dry between chimney pots
in the first rays of morning sun.
Sweeps the bare floor,
rinses her pink china cup
in the stone sink.
Each act mindful:
a bead, a knot on the rosary
of her days.
Barefoot, she stands, now,
with the poor, watching
her culottes billow and dance
in the wind
like angels on the washing line,
teaching her detachment,
obedience, purity.