[Charlie Southerland]

Cousin Daisy came to us from the city
where she was raised in Brownstone splendor.
She was avante guard and very pretty
with long golden hair and very slender.

She helped me with the chores and milked the cows
and gathered eggs and turned the butter churn.
We culled apples and slopped the Hampshire sows.
She loved to work with me, eager to learn.

But she had indoor plumbing, which we lacked
and had her problems with the outhouse stool
and didn't know why the Sears were stacked
or why the privy smelled like lye. No fool

in her right mind could wipe with tractor pages
or printed sheets of sheets and towels and dresses.
She stamped out mad and shouted; "It's outrageous!"
She slung her hand where shit had made its messes.