The New Black

this one, collared, yellow, polyester men’s blouse
with a brown round and angled,
twisting and traveling around orange parallelograms in groups
“some poems are wars”
jesus. that shirt is just aching to be paisley.
a ribbon around a neck, like a story that still gives me shivers
Jennifer wipes down the countertop while we talk about her skirt
i was worried about being conspicuous
but we are needed, to create a medium mean
A couple of people are wearing free hats. Or at least, hats that I hope were free.
“my hair was getting in the way of good conversation.”
a girl pops through the kitchen wearing a skirt that looks like track pants
and a bright black and red chinese shirt
i have a bright red and gold chinese shirt
“I just want a cross dresser who’s gonna be my friend.”
once we made a baked alaska together
this will be a bigger project
“Who among us can imagine ourselves unimagined?”
this poem will eventually be about looking like a poet
i’m sorry all i could bring you was my notes

Adrienne D. Mishkin