Mother's Day Psalm
-Cipactli, San Francisco State University, Fall 2007 (Printed as: The Garage Sale)
I present her this way—
open-palmed, this muted mother
the classical destruction
notice the line in her taste, it is a crack
lying tongue-deep in sex roots, hook her ugly
& feel all the wilds & take her elsewhere
she belongs in blunted brightness
among found pieces of mourning
among waste lust, and bric-a-brac smells
her sour plaster revenge, her death dress ruinations—
all of it a vintage charade
pinching acuteness at high-noon
she fans all shames spread-eagle
& I no longer want her cunning crowding
she is free, positioned for no offering
solely for the laughter & ragged removal
of all her virgin bearings
