Poetry > THE BEAUTIFUL LADY SMELLS
Denice Laws
TTHE BEAUTIFUL LADY SMELLS
Haven't had her for so long.
That beautiful lady who smells like cookies baking,
and Pine-Sol sharp on my sinuses,
and crisp rain on a warm day.
This woman I met 16 years ago,
this lying, stealing drug-addict,
this dead skunk,
rotting filth and a thousand stale ashtrays -
how did I come into the world through her?
To any authority in the universe:
please keep me clean in this hot mess
because inside, the little girl
still wanders around
wondering if her mother will ever come back.