Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah by Patricia Smith

Author:Patricia Smith [Smith, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Poetry
ISBN: 9781566893671
Amazon: B00GNGH2M4
Barnesnoble: B00GNGH2M4
Goodreads: 18987462
Publisher: Coffee House Press
Published: 2012-04-10T04:00:00+00:00

SANCTIFIED

Every night, my mother leaned over a chipped porcelain tub.

She dragged the crotch of the day’s panties over a washboard.

The crotch of those panties was cleaned thin, shredded bright.

She poured heat onto the absence of stain, pressed, rattled

the room with scrubbing, squeezed without rinsing, draped

the stiff, defeated things over the shower rod. Naked

and bubbled from the waist down, she flipped on the faucet

at the sink, ran the hot water until every surface was slimy

with steam, splashed a capful of disinfectant—meant for soiled

floors and scarred walls—into a rubber bag, filled the bag

with scalding water. She sat on the toilet, spread her legs,

stared again at the strands of silver. She twisted a tube to

the bag, snaked the tube inside her body. The slowly spreading

burn said the day was ending in God’s name. She threw back

her head and bellowed. On a hook, waiting, a white dress.

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