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Trina Stolec

I Have Nothing To Wear


I walk in the walk in closet,

survey long line

packed so tight

each item comes out

looking like it spent two months

wadded on the floor.

Still,

I have nothing to wear,

nothing here suits me today.

So much of it is suits -

tailored tweeds and wools,

material that declares

AUTHORITY

to every eye it touches,

passes by,

ignores cotton subordinates.

There are memories

I don't dare part with

bought mostly by

well-intentioned family

at a time when I needed

the authority

wool and tweed bestowed

to show I was

competent,

successful,

worthy,

and just like everybody else.

Remnants of The Before Time...

before I knew money always powers the system

before I knew change is impossible

before I knew wool and tweed are scratchy.

I don't throw these suits out;

there might come a day

when they're useful, and

sometimes I do wish

the royal blue one still fit.


For today,

I grab a cotton peasant skirt

whose wrinkles look like

they belong.

The tweeds and wools

wait patiently

for me to grow up again.



I Saw An Angel In The Night


Dry spring...

wet summer...

corn stalks six feet high

on both sides of the dirt road.

Fog patches a spotty ceiling

over the tunnel street,

limits the distance

car lights can seep into the night.

From behind,

the sky light like a halo

an angel descending

to smile on the field,

fly through the tunnel

like a child on a tube slide.

Shivers run through leaf and bone

as all living things move aside

for her to pass,

bring day to night

with an eerie, comforting glow,

wrap the road in a soft blanket

until the fog breaks and

it's headlights

of another late traveler

blinding from behind.


Old wives say

for every fog in August,

there'll be snow come winter.

  People will die this year.



[Index]

Thunder Sandwich #26 - Summer/Fall 2005