In confusion about
the true nature of things,
I see you
like a label on a new shirt:
washing instructions,
fabric content,
formula for care.
While I’m reading
the arms begin to move
toward me,
the collar wears a wry smile,
the buttons wink.
In a quick switch of roles
it washes me, wrings me out
and hangs me up.
Later, dry and stiff,
I lift my arms to you.
Too bleached and starched,
I stumble forward
cracking into many pieces
scattering across the waxed floor.
Only the label remains.
✶✶✶✶
Karen Corinne Herceg graduated from Columbia University. Nirala Publications released her second book, Out From Calaboose: New Poems, in 2017. She publishes poetry, prose, reviews and essays internationally, including in the American Book Review. Her interview with Alan Alda was the cover of Writer’s Digest’s November/December 2017 issue. Her next interview is with novelist Gail Godwin, and her latest essay appeared in the spring 2019 issue of Hedgehog Review, University of Virginia. Herceg lives in France.
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