CLOTHES MAKETH
Hello, I’m naked.
But I’m not the kind you want to see.
It’s just me here, calling out to an empty room.
Did you ever go naked?
Did you walk down a hallway shedding your layers one by one
Until you had no more to shed
And stood blinking in the harsh sunlight
Exposed and shivering?
I’ve been there too.
I’m there right now.
You strip back the layers of who you used to be;
The expectations,
The failures.
The lies you told to be someone you never were.
And you stand there in your bones
Looking for something new to put on and wear until it becomes a part of you.
Go ahead.
Twirl in your new finery.
Let it settle on your shoulders.
Until crisp becomes comfort,
Until crease becomes crumple.
Be as warm or cool as you like.
Three decades to peel away these layers,
To steam the wallpaper back to bare plaster.
To scrub away the trends and shades and patterns
That over the years I have applied like bandages
Hoping they would fit.
You might think me foolish,
And I suppose I am,
That it has taken me so very long
To undress
And lift my eyes to meet the scrutiny of others,
Challenging with a proud tilt of my chin
The suit that they have crammed me into.
To step out of my front door
Naked.
© mjc 20 August 2015
