Since it’s inception in July, 1993, Urban Graffiti has always received far more poetry than it could ever possibly use — rejecting almost 95 percent of the poetry submitted over it’s eighteen years as a paper-based litzine (largely due to the UG’s specific mandate). That said, ever so often a poem submitted would not only stand out as both an excellent poem in its own right, but an excellent example of the litzine’s overall mandate as well. Such a poem was Lyn Lifshin’s poem, “The Mad Girl Dreams of Cleaning Women” first published in Urban Graffiti #6 in February 1998. I am pleased to reprint it now for your critical enjoyment.
The Mad Girl Dreams of Cleaning Women
She’s burned out,
down on her knees, a
supplicant who could
be kissing some
savior’s feet
only it’s the floor,
stretching out in
front of her, an
enormous penis
that won’t be
satisfied, a
beach she has to
smooth over
with a toothbrush.
Her knees are
raw as someone giving
head 24 years. She’s
bent over. Under
her hair dirt
yelps more with a
switch. If she
stood up she’d have
the bends. She’s
heard of women in
India crawling
on hard floors. At
least when they’ve
spread them
selves, are avail-
able and prone
and open as O,
they have flower
designs to show for
it. For the
mad girl, the
best she can hope
for is no dirt
under her nails no
scuzz on stairs
or paw prints
on tile, all she even
has to show for her
sweat and stress
is nothing.UG
After Lyn Lifshin heard that in the Eskimo language, the word for “to breathe” and “to make a poem” are the same one, she no longer worried, as she had in graduate school, she’d never be able to write enough. Born in Barre, Vermont, in 1942, Lyn Lifshin has written more than 125 books and edited 4 anthologies of women writers. Her poems have appeared in most poetry and literary magazines in the U.S.A, and has been included in virtually every major anthology of recent writing by women. She has given more than 700 readings across the U.S.A. and has appeared at Dartmouth and Skidmore colleges, Cornell University, the Shakespeare Library, Whitney Museum, and Huntington Library. Lyn Lifshin has also taught poetry and prose writing for many years at universities, colleges and high schools, and has been Poet in Residence at the University of Rochester, Antioch, and Colorado Mountain College. Winner of numerous awards including the Jack Kerouac Award for her book Kiss The Skin Off, Lyn is the subject of the documentary film Lyn Lifshin: Not Made of Glass. For her absolute dedication to the small presses which first published her, and for managing to survive on her own apart from any major publishing house or academic institution, Lifshin has earned the distinction “Queen of the Small Presses.”
Recent books from Lyn Lifshin:
THE LICORICE DAUGHTER: MY YEAR WITH RUFFIAN, Texas Review Press,
ANOTHER WOMAN WHO LOOKS LIKE ME, Black Sparrow at Godine.,
COLD COMFORT, Black Sparrow
BEFORE IT’S LIGHT, Black Sparrow
DESIRE, World Parade Books
92 RAPPLE DRIVE, Coatlism Press
Also out recently:
NUTLEY POND, PERSEPHONE, BARBARO: BEYOND BROKENNESS, LOST IN THE FOG, LIGHT AT THE END, JESUS POEMS and BALLET MADONNAS, KATRINA, LOST HORSES, CHIFFON, and BALLROOM. And just out: ALL THE POETS WHO HAVE TOUCHED ME, LIVING AND DEAD. ALL TRUE: ESPECIALLY THE LIES.
Forthcoming books include TSUNAMI AS HISTORY from POETRYREPAIRS.COM.
Urban Graffiti 