i take my socks off,
ball one inside the other,
and tuck them under my pillow.
i like that in the morning,
i can put my socks on
before getting out of bed.
i dread feeling cold
& the cold’s emphasis
on maintenance
or covering up,
which is a form of separating
oneself from the world.
i want to live
closely with what is
outside myself.
i take my socks off
ball one inside the other
and tuck them under my pillow.
one sock
uses the other
as a sack
two units become one
and my head pressed
upon the pillow
keeps the socks
from dislodging.
i don’t want my socks to get loose.
a small vanity:
i really prefer matching socks.
a slightly bigger vanity:
i think about my socks
and consider them important
in the arrangement of an outfit;
bands of color separate sock
from shoe from pant.
i want my anatomy
under the cloth
to be parceled out.
to parcel is to organize
material through which we locate
and distinguish, including ourselves.
our eyes need assistance
cues that signal
what it really is
the eye sees—
looking is relational
even when the beheld
is an object.
i take my socks off
ball one inside the other
and tuck them under my pillow.
to signal (to myself)
that next i will try
to go to sleep.
habit is a form
of insurance—
what has happened
is likelier
to happen again
than something that has not.
CELIA EASTON KOEHLER is currently an MFA candidate in poetry at the University of Missoula. Her poems can be found in the Schuykill Valley Journal, La Piccioletta Barca, and Write Place, among others. In Missoula, she is co-host of a poetry radio show, Please Pay Attention Please, and co-founder of Please, Poetry Library, a poetry library and reading room on the westside of town. Past guests on the radio include Brian Blanchfield, Melissa Kwasny, and Casper Lee.
SHELBEY LECO is native New Orleanian mixed media artist. Her art style is heavily attributed to her grandmother who taught her the art of zentangle at a very early age. She also taught her the beauty of every day objects that Leco incorporates into her pieces. If you like her work, you can follow her on instagram @shell_b3.
