Do they only get dressed
  for those formal affairs

Are your words clothed in rags
  when no one else seems to care

Awaiting an invitation,
  do the hours seem long

Your verse patent leather
  set to dance to a song

Are the verbs sharp as linen,
  is your meaning like silk

Is delayed expectation
  and the silence your ilk

Do your words hang in limbo
  like that tux in the dark

In a closet unspoken
—where the verses take heart

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)