Poem #235 of 365

I’m taking back the white robe, the
one with the hood.

I’m making it safe for Tex-Mexican girls,
cuz it’s a sexy design.

Last night, it slipped my mind that other
folks, another history, had snagged it, had
stamped their brutal scab upon it,
making it ultra un-fashionable,

I had forgotten that certain costumes in
history are associated with target
population segments of misery,

and those are pockets I'd rather not
stick my little brown hands in.

But now I insist on that white robe,
because my poet-friend Crystal
loves to sew and she offered to
make anything I wanted and so
"white robe, with a hood, long to my
ankles" is what I requested,

innocently forgetting that
my sartorial selection
is so tainted with the baggage of blood.

Laughter, yes, later, I laughed
at my lapse in recollection and
at my naked innocence, yet I now return

to my bold nagging desire: I want a homespun
white floor-length linen robe, with a hood,

so I can walk the beach in it
and feel the sea mist on my face in it
and live unceremoniously in it.

I'll certainly not be dragging men to their death in it
nor burning white crosses in it, because

I’m making it safe,
I’m taking it back,

I'm taking back the white robe,
the one with the hood,

gonna make heads turn
in that
white robe,
with the curvilinear hood.

I'm making it safe,
with a sexy design.

I’m wearing it THIS century,
and we'll ALL LIVE to tell about it
(because I won't be dressed to kill).


copyright 2007 tammy melody gomez