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If she could somehow know that Ma and baby Franklin lived on her...
But No
She is my daughter.

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I spend my long days digging for electric-train folk, when they can use me, or working at home , nursing along the wheat, what there is of it, or digging the pond.

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1 I stare at Billie Jo while I sit across from her 2 I spend long days digging for the electric train folks when they can use me 3 I sing sometimes under my breath even now,even after so much sorrow.

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1{Being without half the family billie jo wouldn't be so sad,bellie jo was stressing over the crane berry sauce that she knew id love.
2{I spent long days digging for the eletric-train folks when they could geta hold of me, im still trying to keep the wheat and animals.
3{I was hired at a wireless power on tuesday evacuating for towers.

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She can’t make herself like ma did.And yet if she could look in the mirror and see ma

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Papa stares at me, maybe he is looking for Ma. Unfortunately he won't find her. I look exactly like him, I stand exactly like him, I walk across the kitchen floor with that long-legged walk oh his.
I can’t make myself over the way Ma did. And yet, if I could look in the mirror and see her in my face. If i could somehow how that Ma and baby Franklin lived on in me...
But it can’t be. I'm my father’s daughter.

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I can’t help thinking how it is for Billie Joe, without Ma.
Waking up alone, only my shape left in the bed, outlined by dust.
I always smelled a little like her first thing in the morning

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My voice starts and stops,

Like a car short of gas,

Like an engine choked with dust

But then I clear my throat

And I sing again
I rub my eyes the way my daughter does with my palm out.

Ma never did that.

I wipe the milk from my upper lip with my thumb and forefinger

Just like my daughter did

But Ma never did that either

I don’t talk to my daughter much

I was never a talker

Ma’s dying has changed that.

I get the sound from the song I sing

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i rub my eyes the way she does with my palms out Ma never did that. And i wipe the milk from my upper lip same as her, with my thumb and fro finger Ma never did that either.

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Daniel Maxson

We don't talk much. I never was a talker. With my wife died i guess it never changed that. The only time i talk is when i sing

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I  stare at my daughter while i sit across from her at the table, while she washes dishes in the basin, her back to me, I stare at her.

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Rachel D                                        I spend long days digging for the electric- train folks when they can use me, or working at home, nursing along my wheat what here is left of it, or digging the pond. 

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Rachel D                                        I spend long days digging for the electric- train folks when they can use me, or working at home, nursing along my wheat what here is left of it, or digging the pond. 

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She can’t be like her mother.

She is my daughter

I used to say ,why not put those hands to good use?

Now i don't even talk about those hands anymore

She comes home
And asks me if i know what Mad Dog’s real name
I look at her like if she is talking a different language

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But it can't be.
I'm my father's daughter

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If she could somehow know that Ma and baby Franklin lived on her...

But it can't be.

She is my daughter.

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1.} I stare at Billy Joe
2.} While she sits across the table from me
3.} While I watch her wash the dishes in the basin

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My daughter washes dishes in the basin,

her back to me.

The picked and festered bits of her hands

must be in agony.

I stare at her as she empties the wash water

at the roots of Polly’s apple trees.