net worth, a face strung out like a net like a meth-head, that’s a net, strung out cast into outcast waters. what is the deductible expense of my mother’s un-medicated, rotting tooth? of my unmedicated, of her un-medicated rotting… thumb? you don’t expect poor people’s kids to learn to speak I’m saying it for you eloquently maybe this way you’ll listen this isn’t a metaphor want me to use a double negative? will that make it authentically impoverished? this ain’t no that, this is literal I’m asking you what is the value— the cost— of a rotting hand, tooth, face? what is the word mother, to you? that blind horse, that pain thing where you want her to be well, you want her to be well when she is suffering is suffering is suffering bring a rose I’ll get Gertrude to say it repeat it ad nauseam maybe something will happen maybe someone will throw up have you ever watched a face fall like leaves from a tree that becomes more barren each time? have you cast a net into outcast water repeatedly, maniacally like meth-head fishing for healing like a fish that won’t stop seizing for water in air? calculated net worth assets that exist above liability and fished out a rotting tree that has your mother’s face?
–Chavisa Woods
Poetry