Quick Dirty

This Week's Word for New Mama Poetics:

[dirty]

get down and quick and dirty, mama. seems i am constantly purging in one way or another, purging or wiping or flicking or scrubbing or shepherding dirt into my hands, into the dust catcher, off the cabinet, off tiny baby feet, out of my car, onto the grass, and on and on. my thoughts, never pure, have cleaned themselves up since having a baby. yet i am kept awake at night by remembering my father's ragged breath in those last days, the filth of his environment, animals and insects all gathering in one place to share. this planet is full of disease and despair, it's all a lab experiment to lay the foundation of an immune system. every piece of dirt, every new virus, every breakout, every open sore, every missed opportunity to brush the teeth all make us stronger. dirty is a lady in a bataille novel, a story in susie bright's book, a state of skin a state of my art. our whole purpose in being here is to cleanse the mirror. to sample the buffet.