Clean

The problem that afternoon
Was that when the woman
Seven months pregnant,
In the throes of fentanyl addiction,
Began giving birth on the sidewalk
In a homeless tent in downtown Portland,
City of Roses, the City That Works,
The homeless and toothless woman

Serving as midwife, called for something
Clean to spread under the mother-to-be
Only a tarp could be found,
The birth accomplished,
There was not one clean item of any
Description to wrap the baby in.