Laundry Quintet

Nothin' happened underground in Louisiana Except in this house Except here Except here At 913 St. Anthony Street Lake Charles, Louisiana This house got a basement This house got a basement, true No other house 'round here gots one No other house 'round here gots one This one, this one, this one do This one, this one, this one Ain't very deep for a basement But still it's planted in the swampy soil Sunk in the mud, in the marsh and the mire Down with the snakes and the snails and the bracken (I agitate) Singin' them sediment top-soil blues (root to the bayou) Alluvial delta silt Saltwater ooze Round and round I agitate While them what does the clothes await They mm, contemplate and Mm, speculate In the peace my one-horsepower Electric motors hum Creates Tough and dreary and (in the peace) (them that does) All disheveled (my one-horsepower) (the clothes awaits) Sixteen feet (electric motors) (they contemplates) Below sea level (hum, creates) (they speculates) What shall be? What lies in store In 1963? Or four?