Made me think the damp must still be in them
But when I took my corners of the linen
And pulled against her, first straight down the hem
And then diagonally, then flapped and shook
The fabric like a sail in a cross-wind,
They made a dried-out undulating thwack.
So we'd stretch and fold and end up hand to hand
For a split second as if nothing had happened
For nothing had that had not always happened
Beforehand, day by day, just touch and go,
Coming close again by holding back
In moves where I was x and she was o
Inscribed in sheets she'd sewn from ripped-out flour sacks
The final line is unexpected. The gap between them is accepted. There is a definite note of respect implied in the last line; the poet’s mother sews sheets from flour sacks, an indication of their frugal lives and how hard women like his mother worked. The reader is left with a feeling that the relationship involved unspoken love and respect as well as awkwardness.
Clearances V