The houses are old and damp and ugly
Sunday hymns sung loudly an the organ downstairs
Onward Christian Soldiers
cigarette smoke
a wishbone drying on the counter above the sink
"here. make a wish"
"I brought you some coupons"
bible reading
"circumcise therefore the skin of your heart and be no more stiffnecked"
a big gate, huge lock, boarded up buildings, cheap rent
a river that flows down the wrong side of the tracks
a field of brooms
in her field of brooms
she cleans
what is she cleaning?
all the dirty places
is she sad?
yes, but let's don't talk about that
all the dirty places
a field of brooms
her skin
is she sad?
in her heart
she cleans
I think about cleaning a lot, and my mother
the skin of her heart
small town women of electric can openers, instant coffee and beauty parlor gossip
26 different recipes for cream of mushroom soup
Housework: a cleaning closet filled with brooms and dustpans and old underwear rags
church
the chores
an obsessive maintenance of appearances
a fireplace scrubbed clean once a month
thanksgiving turkey
feminine deodorant spray