“Domestic” by Jennifer Givhan (poetry, ’15)

An excerpt from the poem “Domestic” by Jennifer Givhan (poetry, ’15), published at The Adroit Journal:

Domestic

18

When the boy I loved enough to sponge the reddened kelp bed

of my uterus had a baby with another girl           I pointed blame

like darts into my throat until            I emptied again               I

was working as domestic help blocks from where his baby’s

mama lived in a trailer with her mama          me pretending the

kids I watched were mine though they called me names for

Mexican & fat & they missed their white mother     I was

instructed to lock from the house if she came round with her

boyfriend      I mean I was that lonely & scrubbing toilets felt

like home   […continue reading here]