Her Calloused Fingers
SMT

Her calloused fingers carefully uncover 
rice dumplings filled with care stacked  
in little bamboo boxes with wooden handles that
splinter and are hard to handle her black bangs
often fall into her face where sweat drips and falls
onto her red and white apron gifted from the lady 
down the street who works in a rundown square
where worker bees run to find a meal from a stand
much like theirs where bystanders watch  
broken hands burn and tear to entertain the hungry stares
of hungry men who tip cheaply as they comment on a
cheap girl’s dress when their clean hands don’t hand  over
​enough to pay your rent each morning  
why should you bother getting dressed

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