mum and dad's room terrifying with satin pillows


single eye light blue and red burning black outlines
    parents could arrive any moment to check this
shiver and know you were loved every sternness
    some stretches tore muscle and found weeks of scrubbing
giving birth does not make you infallible
    no answer but to clean an object which will not mind

their bedspread of some extinct fake fur has your smell in the fabric
such uncontrollable essences attach
this chaste embrace where we are worn as diamonds

© 2001 Trout &
Raewyn Alexander