Arlene Weiner: Seconds and Irregulars

instruct me in perfection.
How many ways
things go awry. Take
for example these simple
sheets. One color’s misprinted,
the sky-blue, the pattern
everywhere askew. Or
stripes mismatched,
embellished hem
sewn to the long edge,
corner seams taped
on the brighter side,
now the wrong side.

All these still usable.
We don’t see
the worst errors—
they’re shredded or sent
to a charity for refugees—
weren’t these made
in the Third World anyway?

Soft bed.
Clean sheets: I smoothe them,
draw them taut.

Every fair from fair
sometime declines.

—

copyright Arlene Weiner 2016