On Learning Ladylike She has pot-bellied pigs for pets, and with each sunrise she rises out under a quilt from her mother. There’s a red rag rug in her bathroom. She dabs Oil of Olay under her eyes because her grandmother did and wears a seersucker nightgown. She inherited a plain and simple routine. She’s got her ladyhood mapped out, like a crossword. Do this, this way. I killed my pet fish, and rise from a man’s bed long after sunrise. My neighbors could see me pee. I’ve used hand lotion on my face cuz it's all just lard and wax, and my mom never used nothing. I swear and sweat while brushing my hair. My grandmother had no ways. One year it was manure in the garden, the next, dead carp. Unclear methods, gigantic tomatoes.