POEM: everything we have to do

A collective to-do list for mothers on April 3rd 2025

stitching (intrusive)
domestic (communions)

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- or

everything we have to do:

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1. Hunt for the few socks not
   stretched by growth’s hunger
   to pull onto restless
   pale feet (Shrink them)

2. Gouge out the seed-eyes of
   softened potatoes;
   make meals that our children
   won’t eat (Curse them)

3. Scour the shit off of
   toilet bowl spirits;
   wear shintu devotion
   like crowns (Love them)

4. Don’t notice: words are just
   piss-poor replacements
   for whiskeys we don’t pour —
   then down (Drink them)

   -

5. Burn to the ashes Our
   Fathers’ old Gods - and
   the proud ghosts that haunt our
   boys’ hands (Kiss them)

6. Wail when we touch all the
   trenches our Mothers
   carved into our faces
   and plans (Fight them)

7. Snuff out the candles and
   let our breath sift through
   the wreckage for small things
   to keep (Find them)

8. Hold the bright stars of our
   Daughters and show them
   how fiercely we love them
   to sleep (Knight them)

dedicated to/

Charlie: who likes only
poems that rhyme - but
won’t likely like this one
at all (Fuck it)