Writing Catalog
Marie Kanzinger
Grade: 11
Chagrin Falls High School
Instructor: Jean Kanzinger
After the Bath
Poetry
After the Bath
Inspired by After the Bath by Mary Cassatt
they cling to her
lilac embrace
she washed away
their grass stains
and sticky fingers
and hugged them
so they could feel
her lavender skin
against their own
she drapes fresh clothes
over their shoulders
as they squirm and stretch
testing out their new hands
like they were delicate porcelain
free of the garden's dirt beds
her lemon gaze
slips away to a window
left open for wet bellies
and damp orange curls
but with their clean
pastel hands
and bright-eyed glances
they still hold onto her
not wanting to let go
of their mother's warmth
after the bath