Baskadia

what we learn in time of pestilence

the blackberries mold again before they’re half-eaten

everyone needs toilet paper and diapers

dirt cheap

new washing machines are hard to come by

we/she/they have no words

assisted living

dragged through the dirt

my mother struggles toward the bathroom

on camera behind her walker, soils herself

don’t talk dirty

she can’t help it, but she’s still ashamed

eat dirt

I wiped her bottom in January

& said I’d be back in March

I am no fortune teller

hit the dirt

she grew up in dust storms,

stuffing rags under doors hurry-scurry,

dirt-poor, and that’s shameful too

don’t air your dirty laundry in

public

she wants to eat chocolate all day

she wants to send hose to her grandmother

dirtbag

she wants to know why we stole her baby

she wants to know when the kids are coming

she wants to know where my father is

treated like dirt

she wants to know the time/the day/the month/the year

my family doesn’t know how to communicate

dig up dirt

when my mother said dirty she meant