Indigo by Ellen Bass

Author:Ellen Bass
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Copper Canyon Press
Published: 2020-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Because What We Do Does Not Die

This is not his face. This is not his breath.

This is a praise song

for the mother who sat down beside me,

her coat still on,

asking, What is it, Ellen?

This is homage to the mother

who hissed, The bastard. The son of a bitch,

I’m sorry you didn’t bite his tongue off.

This is not his smell or the smell

of the grass he cut.

This is my mother the next day

in her clean blouse and crimson lipstick

waiting for him in the store,

quarts of clear vodka stacked behind her.

If you ever touch Ellen again, I’ll tell your wife.

This is my mother pronouncing my name,

the name she crowned me.

If you see her on the street, cross

to the other side.

The man protested.

He needed the job. I only kissed her.

This is how I bow down to my mother,

my dead mother who will never be dead.

I never saw him again.

This is not his voice. This is not his tongue.

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