Although it no longer has a body
to cover out of a sense of decorum,
...
despite books kindled in electronic flames.
The locket of bookish love
...
I wind my way across a black donut hole
and space that clunks.
Once I saw on a stage,
as if at the bottom of a mine
...
An arty feline couple parodies bourgeois gender roles
and literary values before the days of YouTube.
...
cheerful stoic epic
cozy corporate convalescence
hollow gold-brick rhetoric
almighty and sleek
...
even if we won't admit it.
Getting off the subway at Canal St. —
...
Leave it to the street vendors
of NYC to improvise a shrine
from whatever they find,
...
Of light on water
and the movement of each
individually and together.
...
Empty cages outline
the periphery of an unnamed thing.
Their emptiness shines
...
are made of light.
Well-lit or seemingly edible,
butterscotch and hazelnut light.
...
Elaine Equi (born 1953) is an American poet. Equi was born in Oak Park, Illinois and grew up in the Chicago area. Since 1988 she has lived in New York with her husband, poet Jerome Sala. She currently teaches creative writing in the Master of Fine Arts programs at City College of New York and The New School. Widely published, her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, and numerous volumes of The Best American Poetry. In April 2007 Coffee House Press published Ripple Effect: New and Selected Poems. Also in 2007 she edited a special section for Jacket Magazine: The Holiday Album: Greeting Card Poems For All Occasions.)
Ghosts and Fashion
Although it no longer has a body
to cover out of a sense of decorum,
the ghost must still consider fashion—
must clothe its invisibility in something
if it is to "appear" in public.
Some traditional specters favor
the simple shroud—
a toga of ectoplasm
worn Isadora-Duncan-style
swirling around them.
While others opt for lightweight versions
of once familiar tee shirts and jeans.
Perhaps being thought-forms,
they can change their outfits instantly—
or if they were loved ones,
it is we who clothe them
like dolls from memory.