The Cleansing

Mary peddled papers on Pike Street
Her raucous scream, peee eye, peee eye,
a sound of the market I heard as a teenager

Mary collapsed one morning
landed in Harborview
Before doctors would examine her,
nurses scraped years of street living,
layers of insulation
from her skin.

Mary returned to the news stand
but died shortly after the cleansing
I miss her sound.