Gossip in the Wash House

Gossip in the Wash House

There’s a gathering of women from around the shed

In the wee house where the blue smoke begins to rise

They’ve brought the dirty linen from the bed

Separating whites from coloured no mixing of the dyes

They’ve stacked the fire with peat ready for the day

Now there’s water in the basin ready for the heat

It’s Monday and it’s washing while men work the hay

And the women share the gossip where they meet

In the settlement nothing escapes their eye and ear

Amy and Jean are seated scrubbing on the board

Their tongues already working in the highest gear

Young Jim’s got a motorcycle he can’t afford

Time to remove a stain from the Sunday best

Bella’s gone and got herself pregnant again

You’d think after four that she’d want a rest

She’ll need the priest if they’ve to have a proper name

There’s a rumour that Ewan has got himself a tractor

A grey Fergie I heard and with a link box

Then Vera got mauled by a bull that attacked her

Damn I just can’t get the stain out of these sox

The suds are overflowing the gossip coming fast

The laird is building a new pier by the loch

Jock is getting a new wife but that will never last

‘Cos he can’t keep his hands off anything in a frock

They had a repository of news gathered from every home

That would never make the local paper but would spread

Faster than those city folks who had a telephone

They’d talk of the deceased before they were even dead

I wonder if they’d had television and a mobile phone

Would text messages really be as interesting as chatter

Tapping on a little keyboard when they are all alone

Hardly a real substitute for the richness of a washing natter

Copyright: David Hopcroft August 2024

Tabloid

Tabloid

Sniffing around hoping to detect a malicious odour

Seeking out any gossip that might destroy

Looking for a headline story in the slightest rumour

From the underworld of shady sources they explore

Half-truths that can so easily be amplified

Each carefully selected innuendo will guide

Evil that perceives evil through a red mist

The chance of a juicy headline is not to be missed

The words they write they believe can shame

The story must not immediately name

The victim of any ferocious character attack

Let the assassination be long and slow

So the interest can grow and grow

The one who knows the audience so well

A target identified the headline can now cry out

To make someone’s life a living hell

Truth buried so deep beneath the innuendo

Families torn apart as lives are destroyed

For every speck of dirt that Joe Public enjoyed

Circulation is increased and profits are buoyed

Sometimes a villain may be exposed

But so often the innocent will bear the pain

With their protests unheard seemingly in vain

Nobody cares about the harm done to their name

So evil and malice will surface again

From those who seemingly are immune to shame

Copyright: David Hopcroft July 2023