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II. Blackberry Winter


Women's Work

Thirty years after you made her

I washed the Raggedy Ann.

I'm a formalist, too. I like

the boundaries out where I can see them,

but not so far they can't be reached.

 

I washed her clothes. I pressed

her hand-laced petticoats and, I

confess, I let my fingers wait

on the dotted dress where

you had sewn a row of phlox.

 

I imagine Grandpa smiled, called it

women's work as he watched you

net and whip through the afternoon.

He approved each stitch, knew blues

you chose by the color of his eyes --

 

he left me that: the expectation

of someone knowing my work

as it matters, while you

showed me how to do it,

how to get it fixed.

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