Our Mother Skins a Rabbit
Our mother skins a rabbit. When she polishes apples
or parades flowers in a vase she always sings or hums
and even whispers. What does she do now?
The wound lunges from its jacket, the meat squirms,
her fingers spring the entire torso free in seconds.
Because we do not look at her face, dare not, she
becomes for a while somebody else, another mother,
dislodged from riddles and prayers and games.
Blood grains the table top, Bing Crosby carved
on the underside when I was nine. The kitchen stinks
of dead, finished, loss, nowhere to hide.
Tap water fountains the blue wound, the head
in a bucket and the lower legs. Naked water
will cure even this. The pie dish is lined.
Soap skins mother’s arms. A radio voice
tells us about Korea and its war. Dead men,
distant fields, body bags.
She cuts the pastry, hums, begins to crimp.
Page(s) 22
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