They swarm my calves, my white-hot socks shining
With a thousand seed ticks. This is divine.
All through my hair & I want them to take

Me. I have been bit by a rattlesnake
& her blue eye shadow will swallow me
Whole: Mother of Eternal Worry. She

Plunges my body again & again, down
Ceramic tub & then the verdant towel
Where her hands, flying, keep my mouth clear &

Eyes clean. Yes. Yes, I am still breathing &
Yes, I still want a vanity mirror
that is a pond, suffocated: lilies.

I still have cotton panties on, ruffled
Around my thighs by seed ticks, those subtle
Sequins. I smell her: rubbing alcohol.

& even afraid, her voice is a drawl.
I think I am like the persimmon tree
She makes wine from: all full & fruit falling.

Still, my hand clutches at patches of white
Clover. There is no clover. Let me bite
Red clay. I want to own every damn red

Thing: my very own blood poisoned with lead:
Superfund baby & don’t eat the fish
From that lake. They’re dirty anyhow: catfish.

They are red and glitter on the inside.
Also red: this barn, my barn is upside
Down and do you know why is it red? ‘Cause

I was less than a name in somebody’s craw
When they painted this with milk, lime & rust.
Nothing will grow on rust: let me be rust.