Polishing Silver

[tectak]

Under mother's order, we grasp grasped
rags tighter than father pressed OK the syntax here is confusing and ambiguous. We gave. a fathers pressed lips, a hint that a stone hit them, then his lips sinking into the door Is he dying? When the rock hit the car. The lips press in anger. My point is a couple helper verbs and minor edits for continuity will help, but I like the image if you clean up the phrase.
his lips when he found a stone
had sunk into his Chevelle's door. I still seel puncturing lips hitting a door hard, despite my effort otherwise.

He hasn't never learned that we threw the rock,
ran inside and begged to help
mother baking her sweet potatoes.
She must have seen us out the window

throwing gravel by the garage.
What else could explain the cloth I really think this succeeds
and piles of silverware, all splayed
across the uncovered table?I0

Everything is tarnished; knives.
and forks, the spoons we use to serve,
our faces when given the job,
our hands blackened by metal blood.

Good stanza. I especially appreciate the shift back to past tense in second line of last stanza. It gives me a sense of a once-meaningful ritual that had tarnished and come to symbolize discontent when reflectiung upon wasted years - yeah, tarnished.

dangerous point but I am critting the crit because I think it's a typo
"he hasn't never learned" ? as Boris said, I could not fail to disagree with you less
Hope I got this before geoff took it on board!
Best,
tectak