Wingtips
In the back of the closet where I keep the things I’ve given up: the smoking jacket, the cardigan, the bolo tie with its black string and its silver and turquoise clasp, the cowboy boots I bought at the spur of the moment, among those costumes and props of another life, there where I’d hidden the could-have-been-mes, the better-mes, and worse-mes, too, I find my wingtips–two tone and dusty–and lift them each for inspection. They’d look good on you, you insist, and you might be right, if only I knew what I’d done with the rest of my wings.
Gerry LaFemina’s numerous collections of poetry include The Parakeets of Brooklyn, Vanishing Horizon, and Little Heretic. His collection of essays on poets and prosody, Palpable Magic, came out in 2015 from Stephen F. Austin University Press and his textbook, Composing Poetry: A Guide to Writing Poems and Thinking Lyrically was recently released from Kendall Hunt. His new book of poems, The Story of Ash, is forthcoming this year. He teaches at Frostburg State University and serves as a mentor in the MFA Program at Carlow University.