Preponderance: Dressing Room

 

Preponderance:  Dressing

Room

Are not the difficult labors of our lives

        full of dark hours?

                                            Mary Oliver

you've already tried

your face on, the one 

you're going

to wear tomorrow 

to walk out into

the world with 

depending on

who wins this

particular con-

test.  Or really, 

you've already tried

both of them on,

to see which fit

is and which fit

isn't, although 

it will be

hours and hours

maybe days

and days.  But

who's counting.

When the truth

of it comes in

you'll celebrate

or mourn.

and even

then the results

it will have

to be settled

from the benches

of nine black

ominous birds

crusted, some

with justice, some

with offal of 

their robed

then flown now

known open-faced 

predecessors.