of a bed that’s unsleepable
until egyptian cotton sheets are removed
balled together in a bamboo hamper
to be fumigated
by the washing process

the time-worn couch
is untenable as well
until I remove the sheets
covering what was twice
his resting place
and replace them with
freshly washed ones.

then I can curl myself into it
until the knowledge
that a bicycle isn’t the only thing
a woman can never forget how to ride
is put into its proper place

like the sheets