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Laura McCullough: The Ways Water is Used

May 11, 2011 by PBQ

Her youngest daughter’s thick curly hair

should not be washed every night;

she knows this,

but her daughter begs her to do it,

loves the ritual, the smell of the shampoo and cream rinse.

It is becoming a chore, the mother thinks,

the child getting big enough to do this herself.

Her own hair is a large knot of curls

kept at bay on the top of her brown forehead

by a plastic comb, the light streaks she has painted there

spiraling away like sweet pea in the garden

she keeps with her girls.

Every night, she folds the tea towel across her child’s forehead

to keep the sprayed water from her eyes and face.

Don’t drown me, Mama, the girl always teases

and they laugh, but tonight she hears the word from the news,

the one about the way water is used

to simulate drowning.

Her daughter’s neck in her hand feels startlingly strong,

the eyes that look up at her disconcertingly wise,

and below them, the tub water shimmers

with foam infected with light,

reflecting it in pink and purple.

The daughter suddenly splashes the mother

who lets the child go

and threatens to send her to her room for the night.

The girl goes under briefly and emerges sputtering,

wipes her face of suds,

and says, If you try to send me to my room, I will fight you.

The mother taught all three of her daughters to swim

by throwing them in the deep end.

It is how she learned herself.

What can she say to the child,

but Come here; let me rinse you again.

Filed Under: Contributors 81, Issue 81, Poetry, Poetry 81 Tagged With: Contributors 81, Laura McCullough, Poetry, Poetry 81

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