garlic chives

So you have a body

or really, you are a body.

You live in this body.

You live through and with and by this body.

This body is you and also is not all of you.

It has more to do with who you are

than you sometimes like to admit.

At first you don’t think about it much, you just

use it, live through it, in glorious exploration.

Then you learn to evaluate it, subjugate it, train it, critique it,

later to flatter it, maybe eventually to care for it.

Sooner of later you come to something like acceptance,

something like respect.

And the clothes, the clothes are part of it all.

Cutting a dress to fit the curve of your own back.

Adding layers of dye until it’s a color you want to wear.

Exploring until you find a style that aligns with the way

you see yourself, daring to show the world

who you’ve become, how you aspire to be.

Discovering in that way how you will fit into the social game.

And then one day it’s spring and you have

something green to put on.

And you go out and greet the energetically sprouting garlic chives

in their own language.