No coddling children's clothes       in any block:
No reticence saying no       in any block:
No tranquility muting color       in any block:
No boredom       knitting nothing       into good behavior:

The strong stripes       all around       are not beatings:
She would never put this       on an innocent's bed:
Nothing pretty       about a no block:
Nothing       beside the point:

No straight-edge       used to shave curves from her lines:
No sentiment       all feeling:
Like windows onto four seasons       every season fall:

A church dress       makes a bad rag:
It slips and slides       but must slide into place:
And that slick shirt he wore out in the night       that shirt
is the worst       unbeautiful       beauty of all.