"The Laundry Man"

"For today's prompt, I want you to take the title of a poem you especially like (by another poet) and change it. Then, with this new altered title, I want you to write a poem. An example would be to take William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow" and change it to "The Red Volkswagon." Or take Frank O'Hara's "Why I Am Not a Painter" and change it to "Why I Am Not a Penguin." You get the idea, right? (Note: Your altered poem does NOT have to follow the same style as the original poet, though you can try if you wish.)"

Chosen poem: The Highway Man by Alfred Noyes


"The Laundry Man"

The floor was a turmoil of fabric among the mussy beds,
The dressers overflowing their drawers with many dangling threads,
The sea was a jumble of colors upon the buried wood,
And the laundry man came collecting-
Collecting-collecting-
The laundry man came collecting just as I knew he would.

His bag was slung over his shoulder, a pant leg at his throat,
His clothes were worn and old, and he wore a dirty coat.
I wondered as I saw him how he got the clothing clean,
But he carried out the laundry,
The dirty, smelling laundry,
He carried out the laudry, so I knew not to be mean.

He climbed up on the stair; he scarce could reach the door,
But I handed out the basket and he took it in a blink,
As he dumped the stinking bundle in the bag 'long with the rest,
And he took the stinking pile,
(Oh, the dirty, stinking pile!)
Then he tossed the bag over his shoulder, and wandered away to the West.

And still of an early morn, they say, when the laundry's on the floor,
When the smell fills up the house till you can't take it anymore,
When the fabric fills the house so there's nowhere to escape,
The laundry man comes collecting-
Collecting- collecting-
The laundry man comes collecting, wearing a dirty cape.