The Northville Review
an online literary journal
Spin Cycle

Alan King

Warm clothes out of the dryer —
the scent hooking its aromatic
arms around my neck,

like a college girlfriend
before a kiss in the laundromat.
And something, long-buried, rises

like a serpent when Seduction
blows her snake charmer’s flute.
Is this why the sight of a fresh

line speedbags my heart,

like that of a child’s
before summer break,
or why the smell of detergent

calls me like a lover into
the laundry room before
she pulled me between her

open legs? Her lips —
warm and wet — ready
to take my tongue.

About the author

Alan King's work has appeared or is forthcoming in journals such as Alehouse, The Drunken Boat, and Beltway Poetry Quarterly. In 2006, he self-published his first chapbook, Transfer, which was followed-up by his second, The Music We Are, in 2007. He has received fellowships from VONA (Voices of Our Nation) in 2003, and Cave Canem in 2007. He currently works as a reporter for The Afro-American Newspaper in Baltimore.