how to clean rice by Carina Solis (15, Georgia)

stem to kernel
kernel to husk
peel dark shells 
to find secrets 
in smooth grains.
parch the rice,
then swaddle it

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in a poor boy’s hat
and toss it while 
the wind blows.
nurse brown 
from white--
bleach a child’s 
tender skin
to ivory bones;
feed open mouths 
to river water &
cry the little grains pure.
a brown boy said so
rinse yourself sweet
rinse yourself whole
and then he husked me
and then he husked himself
until we both drowned clean.