no not that way she'd
say when I was 7 pulling
the bottom sheet smooth
you've got to    saying
hospital corners


I wet the bed much later
than I should, until
just writing this I 
hadn't thought of
the connection


My mother would never
sleep on sheets someone
else had    I never
saw any stains on hers
though her bedroom was


a maze of powder    hair
pins    black dresses
Sometimes she brings her
own sheets to my house
carries toiletseat covers


Lyn did anybody sleep
in my    she always asks
Her sheets her hair
smells of smoke she
says the rooms here
smell funny


we drive at 3 AM
slow into Boston and
strip what looks like
two clean beds as the 
sky gets light I


smooth on the form
fitted flower bottom
she redoes it


She thinks of my life
as a bed only she
can make right