I found a boy, and: Clean

I found a boy

who had no blanket    no change
of pants    just some 24-hour
coffee and a shot of

his tow-headed bastard daughter

his billfold all stained and coming
unstitched    poor guy

said he's clean    but all last night
he'd been heaving    right over there
behind those graves

So I brought him the raggedy quilt
I can't wash anymore

I let him pet my dog

I made up a name
for him to call me    Now I see him

looking a little bit worse    a little
bit worse

He's still so fucking
handsome    I make believe

I never met him

Clean

She stood in the tub beside me again
a little slouched over her workaday belly

teaching me how a grown up girl
must always clean herself:

she made a paw of her washcloth
and rubbed it back and forth inside,

she had me try it too in front of her;
then she helped me climb out

and dried me until I could stop
my shivering; she folded my peach-

colored towel over hers.