Alterations

247 ALTERATIONS The tailor talks with pins In her teeth Like the undertaker's needles Used to sew up gaping gums Darts disappear into a pincushion On her wrist and she feels No pain as she says The deceased's legs Were the same length as mine I remember the man Stinking up the diesel cab With nigger jokes and cigars And wonder why He willed his slacks to me The tailor requests I let out my breath As she cinches the dead man's Trousers to my waist By now his clothes lack flesh I take off the threads Of his life Bristling with our differences DONALD LEVERING ...