TO MY MOTHER'S SMILE

TO MY MOTHER’S SMILE

you covered my sheets in baby powder today while i was away, and everything was 
dust
and 
m   v  m  n
   o   e   e    t

everything was
shielded from my touch
a small
barrier

but all i kept thinking was

        what is that
                    smell

I know it

            i couldn’t think of “baby powder”

i just kept thinking

“that smells like three years ago”
before everything stopped being messy
it smelled like when i was fifteen, too

it smelled like how it  
smelled when my mom would finish getting ready in our shared bathroom before i woke up
it smelled like what it smells like when she was too

tired

or too

blinded by the lights in the morning

that she had to stay under the covers a little longer in the sounds of the alarm
a little longer so she had to use 

baby powder

to get the grease out of her hair

no time for shampoo