Guilt

[milo]

I thought the personification of guilt was the weakest part of this, you might be served by eliminating that and referring to it indirectly.

Guilt

Guilt sits on its haunches and stares,

I love the word haunches, but what does it really add to sit?

panting at my feet, begging at the table,
peering through the half-closed window of night.
A constant companion, unwanted but present -
like a drunken neighbor by the pool.

You could eliminate the line that starts "A constant . ." entirely and not lose anything. A "drunk" neighbor is fine.

Pardon me I am just going to trim this next section a little it is too much to explain it all:

A child next door believes that she
caused her mother to cry,
her father to leave, her brother to wail,
as if the world was ending.

I am a little confused as to what "as if the world was ending" is modifying. Is the list of her families woes occurring as if the world was ending or is she crying as if the world was ending. I think crying as if the world was ending might be a tad bit cliche.

I scrub at the guilt on my own skin,

you don't need "own" it is implied in "my"

yet it clings to me, deep red stamen
stain of lilies on my blouse,

if ever you find you need 3 modifiers for a single noun you should really reconsider. In this case you have deep red and stamen all modifying stain. Also, as much as I love the word stamen, you should pretty much always avoid consonant slide alliteration in poetry (and in life).

the lingering scent of ripened flowers -
when was I in that garden?

The last line throws me a little bit. I am thinking "which" garden. I think tying guilt to a garden is good, it is the "that" that throws me.

Thanks for posting I hope my observations have been of some help.