By TINA CANE
Lucid dreaming is not a job but a steady occupation
I do not have a big dream they are only little dreams
and right now I cannot think of one
My father read the paper while my mother scrubbed the floor
I pay a woman $100 a week to help me keep my house clean
I forget to rinse the rice because I am rushing
I wipe the counter and wipe the counter again
My son makes a mountain of suds in his hair
I rinse behind his ears
Women balance large bundles of sticks on their heads
I forget to rinse the rice because I am rushing
I wipe the counter and wipe the counter again
For ten years I fed my children from my body
Kissed their fists to custom-make them milk to fight the germs
I did this without realizing I did it all the same
I wipe the counter and wipe the counter again
If I had to live under a bridge my children would go with me
When my daughter asks me to brush her hair
I use fragrant oil so that in a perfumed dream
she will remember me with steady hands
hands that wipe the counter that sometimes rinse the rice
Tina Cane serves as the Poet Laureate of Rhode Island and is the founder and director of Writers-in-the-Schools, RI. Her poems and translations have appeared in numerous publications, including The Literary Review, Two Serious Ladies, Tupelo Quarterly, jubilat, and The Common. She also co-produces the podcast Poetry Dose. Cane is the author of The Fifth Thought; Dear Elena: Letters for Elena Ferrante, poems with art by Esther Solondz; Once More with Feeling; and Body of Work, forthcoming in 2019 from Veliz Books.
