potpourri hides
the vomiting stench of others shit

elegance
soft-textured fabric
cotton
with stitched-on initials
of natural dominance

A towel.

from the sweat of bent
semi-feudal
semi-slave backs
bent in unison pickin cotton in the South

black mother black fathers
and black babies
pass it on
to sweatshop garment factories filled
with alien women from that third world
working
twelve-hour days
fifteen cents a piece
purple legs swollen
pus-cluttered fingers
deliver
a new shipment
to the suburban sales lady
who offers the simple elegance
of a personalized towel
for that man
who has it all

it touches one last hand

She
the wife, daughter, friend
makes the credit card purchase smiling:
"Charge, please!"

He
the husband, father, friend
opens his gift
semi-excited
lands a gentle kiss and a standardized thank you

the generational sweat
of black
Alien
3rd World
suburban sales lady
now hangs
in the toilet of the man who has it all