Alams for Cleaning Out the Painter’s House
by Charlotte Friedman
May 2021
with a broomin this room
I push cigaretteswe sang ballads
into the cornervoices blended
the wind liftsnot your enemy
inked scrapsnot your good girl
of yellow traceonly your daughter
tubes of paint visit me tonight
ooze over burnersI want to taste color
a strange palettein my dreams
red and forgotten200 paintings
the coffee pot lightyour vision
holds steadyI am breathless
I scrub the wallssmell of spirits
bucket of bleachin my hair
still a stale smellmy throat
dragged five tonsyour final show
from the basementopens the night
unbearable weightbefore you died
two grenadesyour life
one under each arma brief visit
that’s how I want to gocoffee & a cigarette
from your drawerI’d like to paint
I lift a pistola painting call it
slick in my handsWings at Rest
Charlotte Friedman is a poet and memoirist, and author of The Girl Pages: A Handbook of Resources for Strong, Confident, Creative Girls (Hyperion). She teaches Narrative Medicine in the English Department at Barnard College. Her poetry has been published in Light, Connecticut River Review, Intima, Unearthed, and elsewhere.