Marianne Burton
Greater Burdock: Thirty Minutes
Through the machine’s fish-eye door
I watch my shirt and jeans, grassslicked,
revolving in their wash.
I have showered, should be calm
cooking supper, but the burrs,
brown and hairy, are clinging
like Bosch demons in my hair.
I have shampooed, rinsed, blotted,
combed, sleeked, pulled the strands apart,
but heat from the drier has
stimulated the flower-heads.
They are emptying their seeds
in my hair so the brush spreads
black dots in the sticky damp.
The burdock leaves grew downy,
shaped as hearts. The rough meadow
grasses sliced our backs. Thirty
minutes left and every clock
hand lunging forwards. I stand,
scissors poised, hesitant, flushed
red as a capital A.
I watch my shirt and jeans, grassslicked,
revolving in their wash.
I have showered, should be calm
cooking supper, but the burrs,
brown and hairy, are clinging
like Bosch demons in my hair.
I have shampooed, rinsed, blotted,
combed, sleeked, pulled the strands apart,
but heat from the drier has
stimulated the flower-heads.
They are emptying their seeds
in my hair so the brush spreads
black dots in the sticky damp.
The burdock leaves grew downy,
shaped as hearts. The rough meadow
grasses sliced our backs. Thirty
minutes left and every clock
hand lunging forwards. I stand,
scissors poised, hesitant, flushed
red as a capital A.
Page(s) 10
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