Old Scratch or Mr. Scratch is a name of the Devil, chiefly in Southern US English. The name likely continues Middle English scrat, the name of a demon or goblin, derived from Old Norse skratte.
"Heat" by Michael Chitwood
A Coke bottle stopped
with a sprinkle head
sat at one end of the board.
She'd swap iron for bottle,
splash the cloth,
then go at it with the iron.
The crooked was made straight,
the wrinkled smooth,
and she'd lecture from that altar
where rumpled sheets went crisp.
"If Old Scratch gets his claws
in your thigh or neck,
you burn a thousand years
and that is the first day."
Our clothes got rigid,
seam matched seam.
Our bodies would ruin her work.
That's one heck of an ironer/presser.
ReplyDeleteIs this an analogy for church services. The preacher (presser) can preach (iron), but afterwards the people (clothes) are going to sin (get wrinkled) by the temptations (heat). I like that interpretation. What others are there?
Did you ever read Screwtape Letters? This reminds me of that. Perhaps she is working for Old Scratch? I always thought that absurdity of some preachers was designed to turn people the other way. Holidays designed to turn people pagan.
ReplyDeleteThey say straighten....and what do we do! Of course look the other way.
I don't understand the Coke bottle. Filled with water for the ironing?
I liked your interpretation of sin as heat.