AND WE

​she said he smelt clean,
altar-boy good. they were
my mother + my father.
& i was good, clean, Catholic
— stirred by the dirty about
you starting with your shoes,
quarry-muddy; the smell
of your mechanic’s sweat, of grease,
grime and irreverence contrary
to my air of jonquils
erlicheer. & we both laughed at Louis
C.K.’s dissection of stupidity.

____

​+Magdalene Carmen photographed by Peter Matulich

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