Out of the Dust

This section summarizes Poem 29: “Hope in a Drizzle,” Poem 30, “Dionne Quintuplets,” and Poem 31: “Wild Boy of the Road.”

It rains a slow drizzle that adds up to a quarter inch, giving some much-needed water to the seeds and plants. Ma enjoys the drizzle by standing naked outside letting the rain wash the dust down her pregnant body: “My dazzling Ma, round and ripe and striped / like a melon” (56). Ma cries when she hears of a Canadian woman’s quintuplets. She gives biscuits to a young man traveling to California. He offers to work for the food, and when he and Daddy come in from the fields, he also accepts a haircut and fresh clothing. When he leaves, Billie Jo dreams of walking away to a somewhere green and full of life.

This section summarizes Poem 32: “The Accident,” Poem 33: “Burns,” Poem 34: “Nightmares,” Poem 35: “A Tent of Pain,” Poem 36: “A Night of Drinking,” and Poem 37: “Devoured.”

Billie Jo reveals a terrible accident in July. Daddy placed a pail of kerosene by the stove; Ma assumed it was water and poured it into the coffee-making pot on the lit stove. The flame jumped up to ignite the whole pail, and Ma ran out for Daddy.