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–
