I watch my grandson
navigate his morning clothes,
these undies, those shorts,
this shirt, who cares what color,
challenging what his three-year-old
brain knows of spatial geometry
and how he fits into the world.
He chooses a long-sleeve dinosaur tee
this 90-degree day
lays it on the floor, studies it,
naked, toddler pot-bellied, head bent,
arms snaking through the air practicing
the moves he needs.
Arms go there,
somehow head through there.
Kid tai chi and focus.
Then it’s all cat and mouse with this shirt
push and pull, trial and error error error
until he gets it
and flattens a toothy T Rex over his torso.
He walks out bare butt and skinny legs
pleased and proud and present,
airplane arms, and without words shows me:
Look look what I can do now.
Mary Jo LoBello Jerome authored the poetry collection Torch the Empty Fields (Finishing Line, 2022), where “Dressing Yourself” was first published. Her poetry and fiction have been published in many literary journals. A Poet Laureate Emeritus of Bucks County, she edited Fire Up the Poems, an anthology of poetry writing lessons for teachers, released in 2021 and distributed gratis by Bucks County Community College.
Poet’s Corner is curated by Bucks County Poet Laureate Emeritus Tom Mallouk and supported by a grant to the Bucks County Herald Foundation made possible by Marv and Dee Ann Woodall.
To submit a poem for consideration, email it to Heraldpoetscorner@gmail.com. If the poem has been previously published, please say where it first appeared.
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