Wendy Trevino
Washing & folding clothes takes about 5 hours.
The drive to the nice laundromat is 15 minutes
Both ways, on a good day, as long as you aren’t
Driving during rush hour. Folding 3 loads
Of laundry takes a couple of hours. It takes
About 5 hours to wash & fold 3 loads
Of laundry. A Laundry Attendant makes
About $20/hour in San Francisco. A Laundry
Attendant cannot afford to spend 5 hours
On 3 loads of laundry. A Laundry Attendant
Cannot afford a Laundry Attendant. I spend
5 hours doing laundry a week. Me & my partner
Have clean clothes & socks. We have clean
Towels. We sleep in clean sheets. We live
With a fear of bed bugs. We live over a garage
& in-law unit where our landlord’s grandson lives.
Getting him to fix things is a chore. He was going
To have the contractor replace the garbage disposal
But the contractor was doing military exercises
In the Channel Islands so it was a long time
Before I heard back from the contractor.
The day I heard back from the contractor
He was doing something on our roof
& he shoveled some rocks from the roof
Onto the rear windshield of our neighbors car
& smashed it. It is possible the landlord’s
Grandson heard my partner agreeing
With the neighbor that he wished we had all
Been given a heads up. The landlord’s grandson
Asked the neighbor to get a repair estimate.
I don’t know if he tried to get the contractor
To pay for it or what, but I didn’t hear back
From the contractor after. We live without
A garbage disposal. The oven isn’t heating up.
We lived with only two fully functioning
Burners on our stove for almost 5 years.
Our place is actually nice. There are two
Or four of us. It’s the only way we could
Afford it. Most of us work part-time. Someone
Once said, “Always choose time over
Money.” We’re trying to do that. It takes time
To do things for free that other people don’t
Get paid enough to do. There was one place
We looked at before we got this one. It had
No windows. Another woman looking at
The place said to me in Spanish that the rooms
Were too small. She pointed out the bed could
Barely fit in one of them. The place had refurbished
Floors so I hadn’t noticed before. We didn’t apply
For the apartment because they wanted us to pay $105
To apply. It takes a certain number of hours to read
Through applications & capitalists don’t want to pay
For anyone to do it so they get the people who need
An apartment to pay for it. They are able to do that
Because people need apartments & there are very few
Apartments for rent they can afford. Not because
There aren’t enough apartments. There are plenty
Of empty apartments & homes. They are more
& more a luxury. A business for people the city wants
To move here or visit. SFPD kills broke people
Every year. People killed by police tend to be
Black or Latinx & men. Black people make up
~5% of the City, but more than 30% of those killed
By police. Ours seems to be one of the few houses
Owned by Black people on our block. Our landlord
Told me she was able to put a down payment
On the house in 1961, after her husband was killed
In an accident. I know 3 people who own a house
Or apartment in San Francisco who could not have
Afforded it if not for an accident they or someone
They loved had. I once told my partner’s mom
That a part of me really wants there to be a big
Earthquake that the capitalists don’t survive.
Saying it out loud to her, I heard how fucked up
It sounded. That I would just sit here waiting for that.
Wendy Trevino was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. She lives and works in San Francisco and has published chapbooks with Perfect Lovers Press, Commune Editions and Krupskaya Books. Brazilian no es una raza– a bilingual edition of the chapbook she published with Commune Editions – was published by the feminist Mexican press Enjambre Literario in July 2018. Her first book-length collection of poems, Cruel Fiction, was published by Commune Editions in September 2018. Wendy is not an experimental writer.
