re-writing old texts

Since I’m pretty much never happy with what I write after it sits around for a while, I have been re-writing (read: creating whole new poems using only bits of the old) a series of old works. Though they began as a serial poem, the new incarnations are probably more likely to be stand-alone pieces with loose relationships. Here is a sample:

1.

Your weather,
the small allowances–

in the slip between
borders, your “boy” and “girl” lines–

there are hesitant secrets

revealed with silence–

no matter how hard–

Your flexibility,
your careful speech,

kept boundaries, faced
differences

invention and fiction–

your life in ruffles
and denim

You tell the truth,
comparing

our bodies
willing to give

your father’s hand,

your chocolate cakes

You peel back layers
You shave the fear
You sort through piles

There, stand questioning
in front of the make up
in front of the feather boas

I invent you as a character,
I take your place, wrap my
fear in feathers, remain curious

about the revelation
of necessity–