The Backwards Flight of Names by Gretchen Mattox

in dream my mother has planted a yard of sorrel,
yellow flowers folding into themselves like beach umbrellas

taste sour like sorrow and I want that yard of grass—

we know the men can’t be trusted so let them go

but what about the bitterness?—sting like soap in the eye
the time my mother washed my mouth out

for saying shit—hard bar of Dial sudsing, rabid

From: https://www.passagesnorth.com/archives/issue-28/the-backwards-flight-of-names

Date: 2007

By: Gretchen Mattox (19??- )

Tags: 2007, gretchen mattox, in dream my mother has planted a yard of sorrel, in praise of chaucer father of english poetry, the backwards flight of names