DIRT

“… You know you came from it,

and one day you’ll return to it…” *

//

We called them bumper lickers

but they were just women

Thirsty women, but we knew them

as ‘Those dirty little bitches’

We’d find them at night

crawling on hands and knees

Kneeling behind the wide open

gates of pick-up trucks

Their tongues tracing chrome curves

or caught bloody on rusted rims

They licked dirt from metal

and made it clean enough

We could see ourselves

in their careful work

They never said a word

but their mouths were gaping

They were our mothers

licking the dirt from our hands

Licking our knees too

They gave us warnings

with wide eyes

‘The danger of digging

is that you’ll find out

there is no bottom’

Some say this is where

women fall, or

How they get

what they deserve

A dry rasp

A reputation

Others say this is just

how they pray

Digesting

disturbed earth

Their faith

in a seed’s push

and not its yield

What brings the rain

*Lyric from Florida Georgia Line, Dirt. One in an ongoing series of pieces written after listening to, and reimagining, Top 40 Country Songs.