Heatstroke

that woman boasted
how she loved the heat
mixed her own tanning potion
from fresh squeezed lemon
and virgin oil
had a mad sheen
baking herself to parchment
on the three-way lounger

making me do her back
when i felt mostly horror
at the rough grain of her skin
felt myself falling in every pore
like Alice
she was Woman Mother
the base smell and texture
of what nature had in store

at night i howled not wanting
to be giving up goosie girlflesh
now she drives in a baseball cap
parody of her grandsons
runs her veined and spotted hand
over the rough grain
of my grown up skin
tells me to wear a hat