sat on the side of her white tile bathtub,
mouth open wide
in went the soap
acid on my tongue.
what had I said?
I can’t remember now.
but that rancid taste,
her steaming angry face
imprinted forever in my mind.
it’s just odd
it happened twice .
in that haunted red house.                                                                                   first when I was 5.                                            again when I was married at 25.

-mama you taught me how to let a woman wash my mouth out with soap.