WITH A GIFT OF HAND-ME-DOWNS
Elisavietta Ritchie
Feathered boa, sequined shift, paint-
splattered Brooks Brothers khakis
bought years ago second-hand --
You've just become someone else.
Aviator. Tap dancer. Grande dame.
Courtesan. Poet in borrowed clothes.
Ruffles. Velvets. Tatters. Here
is my flowing sarong from Java, printed
with indigo kingfishers, ginger buds --
you could not have garnered, so young,
all the romances that faded batik
inspired, absorbed in its folds...
Now fly to the islands with your disguises.
Gallivant unfamiliar lanes
under a different sun, unpredictable moon,
while you play out my dreams,
wear out my lives,
multiply all your own.
