Ironing

My grandmother taught me shirts:
the collar first,
then yoke and sleeves and body,
in that order.

What was ironed was previously dampened,
rolled up in towels;
or a dampened cloth
was placed on the surface to be ironed.

The iron itself was important,
a strategic tool the poor could use
to appear upright
among the righteous.

It might be show,
but was a point of pride in the making.
I simply ironed
to be righteous as anyone.

Ironing was the substance of law
and, somewhat, to prayer.