the dryer stops running
having done its job
and lets go a click
which is the door unlocking

—this is my cue to get up
and fold the dry clothes.
i don’t, however, or at least,
not right away. instead,

i sit and enjoy the silence
in the apartment now
that the load has run.

but then i hear, another click
which is when, i look up confused; 
because there is only
supposed to be one click

and it is always the same
after the load has run
for thirty-six minutes

on the “Mixed Loads” setting
—I don’t separate darks 
and lights like I should—

so that now,
upon hearing
the second click,
i am perplexed.

a dryer is a mechanical thing
and can only click as it is made to, 

and just then,
as i had this thought,
there was a third click!

as if the dryer not only had developed the ability to speak, 
but now also the ability to read minds, 
and could hear me degrading it as just a mechanical thing

i listened closer and heard now not only the clicks 
but also the subtle rgg’s and prrt’s 
that are the same as an athlete saying ahhh after a race 
or a lawyer saying phew after a case.

so i said alright alright and got up off the couch 
to open its lid smiling smugly 
and then see its happy belly lit by a dim yellow 
and displaying for me a perfectly dry mound of clothes.

thank you, i said. and just then, 
two clicks in quick succession, i swear it.