The Daily Dressing

after Gertrude Stein

“Clothes make the man. Naked people
have little or no influence on society.”
—Mark Twain

Some know
themselves
in daily dressing
the cutting the
fitting. Some
invent themselves
putting an arm
in a sleeve a foot
in a pant
leg then a
shoe.

Some grieve
for the worn
out shirt the
vest no longer
one with torso.
Some believe the
daily dressing the
cutting the fitting
hides what a
mother cannot
love.

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Karren LaLonde Alenier is author of six collections of poetry, including Looking for Divine Transportation, winner of the 2002 Towson University Prize for Literature, and On a Bed of Gardenias: Jane and Paul Bowles (Katywompus Press, 2012). Her poetry and fiction have been published in such magazines as: the Mississippi Review, Jewish Currents, and Poet Lore. Gertrude Stein Invents a Jump Early On, her jazz opera with composer William Banfield and Encompass New Opera Theatre artistic director Nancy Rhodes, premiered at New York City's Symphony Space Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater in June 2005. Composer John Supko is collaborating with her on How Many Midnights, an opera about Jane and Paul Bowles. She writes for Scene4 Magazine at scene4.com. She maintains a blog at Alenier.blogspot.com.