醒来后和妹妹一起刷牙--吉姆.丹尼尔斯

在厨房的水槽前，楼上的浴室堵了
家人都出了城

梦醒后度过这个夜晚
醒来后--吃冷饮

和爽心食品，
冰箱和小冰箱里

都是膨胀的吃剩的食物。在我们的五十年代，
都半睡半醒，我们面对面。

一天结束的时候，我妹妹的微笑
沿着她的下巴泛起白色的泡沫

这一天都没有人微笑。我们笑出声来。
我们可能再也不会一起刷牙了。

下面没有镜子看见我们憔悴的脸
我们漱口，我们吐掉。就如我们被教导的那样。
at my kitchen sink, the bathroom upstairs
clogged with family from out of town

spending the night after the wake
and the after-wake—cold beverages

have been consumed and comfort food,
leftovers bulging both the fridge

and the minifridge. In our fifties, both
half-asleep half-awake, we face each

other. My sister’s smile foams white
down her chin at the end of a day

on which no one has smiled. We laugh.
We may never brush our teeth together again.

No mirror down here to see our haggard faces.
We rinse, we spit. As we were taught.
“Brushing Teeth with My Sister after the Wake” by Jim Daniels from The Middle Ages. © Red Mountain Press, 2018