Brenda Hillman

Sister Shirt


Because you weren't there
I slept in your shirt.
We talked about the sounds you do in the night,
talked about what it's like
being entered by you,
about having a cloth soul with black writing,
small white tag in back,
how the shirt looks dirty in the day,
dirty as the moon,
my my my! — shirt with
her would have beens and could have nots —
that would have been nice, said the shirt,
that would have been nice said the moon under white shade
to have him stay in me instead of traveling,
the moon loves light on this side of the world
and says to the day
I would have liked being covered by you.

Sister, sister shirt, sister shirt shirt,
I said what
do you think of him? with his beautiful face,
we lay like a saint without god, candle
without fire —
no translation for tomorrow, —
sister shirt, tell me, does he also
slip into you when he's half awake in the night,
then smooth down the rest of you
with his hand, she asked me,
— no, I said, I asked you first —

I put my hand on the inside of the shirt
where he had just been,
It felt so handsome! like expensive hope
it felt like the inside of the body
with its soft cloth,
and for a moment, the body
felt almost lucky, missing him —

Also by Brenda Hillman:  The Bat  //  world/axis

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