Island Girl Discusses Methods of Removing Blood from Cotton / nicolette bethel

First thing, just pray it white, cause white could clean.
Them other colour-dem too bright and fast,
like Maisie-down-the-road-dem eldest child,
who walk around with switch in her behind.
They need to put switch on it, make her mind—
but where I was? Yeah, just make sure it white.
Is cotton they pick to dye with, right? White
the only thing you get blood off like that.
And then you need a lime, some salt, and sun.
Don’t wash it first, cause blood will set, and stain
and give the thing away. So cut the lime
and rub it on the blood, and cover that
with salt and lay it flat, and let the sun
shine on it. Leave it out just long enough
to let the bloodstain fade, then take it in
and rinse it. Wash it then. The blood is gone.
.
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Nicolette Bethel is a Bahamian playwright, poet, anthropologist and blogger and the founding editor of tongues of the ocean. Her work has been published in a variety of print and online publications, including Calabash, The Caribbean Writer, Trespass Magazine, and The Caribbean Review of Books.

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