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1913

White enameled ironing board,
cotton cover
held on with elastic band,
draw string,

covered with scorch marks,
colors ironed and bled in,
fabrics not fast—

Helen Boni, formerly Kasmierski,
Eleanor Cotter, formerly Reardon—

thought of replacing it but remember
both my grandmothers comfortable
with a stained and scorched ironing board cover.

—
Craig Cotter was born in 1960 in New York and has lived in California since 1986. His poems have appeared in hundreds of journals in the U.S., France, Italy, the Czech Republic, the U.K., Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada, India, and Ireland. Books include The Aroma of Toast, Chopstix Numbers, and After Lunch with Frank O’Hara.

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