DEITIES OF DRAPERY

first

you must make yourself at home

in a snag's rotting trunk & eat only

gauze for three weeks. prepare it

blanched & coarse, daubed with

white vinegar & unbearably tough

to the teeth. the boars will come

low-down & starving & dinner

plate-eyed, but if they see you

through haze they will hesitate.

then

you must thank your deities

your drapery deities who spin

gossamer silly & swallow ruched

silk by the yard. they keep pigs

off your back & expect only spare

yarn in return.