Herbal Essence

Clairol Herbal Essence was brand new
when I met her
the girl whose name I don’t recall
whose face I could not place in a line-up
whose lips I can taste to this day
and could distinguish from any other lips
anywhere else on earth
and her hair
long with ringlets wet
smelling of that shampoo

She lived in the mill district
behind the railway station
in a lint-head’s house
falling down, badly heated and affordable
we made love one afternoon in winter
when the warmest place was her hot bath
and stayed in love a week or two
then stopped

I come across a bottle
in a bathroom at a party
in a beach cottage
where one of the single girls
left it for the rest of us
the weekend men
I open it and think of her
this morning in the moment
between turning off the shower
and reaching for the towel
when the scent of soap and water
is fresh and tangy clear
and not unlike her.