White Necks
for Sonia Farmer

when we’re home
especially when it’s cold
and we dread undressing
washing ourselves
we wish or prefer
not to go out

we do get dressed,
go out, find ourselves
not wishing to come home
wishing we hadn’t
come home yet

wondering if we got enough
out of all we invested
got enough for our investment

was the effort worth it
to cross over
to pass through that barrier

were we ready to pass
back through again

though barrier between
myself and myself
as if myself had, like shirt
or pants or jacket,
a right side and a wrong side

at home I suppose
I get to go about
on the rough side,
on the wrong side

to go out though
needing to be on the right side,
on the smooth side

as comfortable on one side
as on the other
once we are comfortably into
one or the other outfit

my life’s a constant struggle
between worlds, both mine

private time and social time
both unbearably tasty to me
both of these, treats


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2008
1:16 a.m. 05.01.08