Long rows of slick plastic chairs
orange and yellow,
sit still in the dense humidity of a
sauna
without the solitude.
The room is filled with the cries of miserable children,
a monotone soap opera on the blurry television and
the dull roar of the machinery.
This is purgatory
with a half full snack machine-
where we wait for hours
with eyes looking straight ahead
both patient and anguished.
We are all too poor to pay others to do our wash;
not creative enough to find something
better to do.