Notes About The Poem

A poem about the broadening reach of stains we try to cover & hide away.

The Wash

Smoke glaze of Crayola pink
salmons through foamy Colgate 
spat from mouth 
to porcelain sink in the washroom 
nearest the bedroom overslept in this morning.

To look at it, spineless and slow, 
amid hunkering swirl
gurgling down to wish on gators,

is to see the frail rivulet percolate 
on New Hampshire’s white meadow late in December,
to see it bubble 
beneath blood oaths of brothers, 
solemnly sworn, 
made null by the twist of an axis

wringing the color of life from 
tattered red panties 
tossed to the tumble of snow-soaked socks 
circling like doves through soap and boiling water.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2019

Poem

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