Complete Text from The Airing Installation

Wall One: Over the Drawers

She blew smoke in her mother's face once.                                                                                                    She told me over tea.

She traced the scar that crossed her eyebrow.                                                                                                  Her father hit her hard, but he was a good man she always said.

She told me that thunder was the angels bowling.                                                                                               I never believed her.

She tried to hold onto a rope with her teeth.                                                                                                    She failed and never got the job.

She traded her stocking for cigarettes                                                                                                              and then her stories for memories.

Wall Two & Three

Sun bleached                                                                                                                                                         and smudged                                                                                                                                                    around the corners,

I want to                                                                                                                                                            stuff them into my                                                                                                                                       pockets,                                                                                                                                                         purse,                                                                                                                                                                and mouth                                                                                                                                                           for fear.

Shake them out                                                                                                                                                     so the dust                                                                                                                                                     litters the air                                                                                                                                                     and my breathing lungs.