Poetry by Michael Morell
Lightning Strikes the Dressing Room
I grab a pair of pants, try them on
and finger the waistband for give.
I’m a fish flopping on a cold, hard floor,
the Incredible Mr. Limpet who can’t find his feet.
The pants fit and don’t fit.
I buy them, but they are not yet mine
until I do my thing, go to the place
I call home, take a tape measure
and old medicine bottle full of pins
then make my worldly mark.
Half the material will soon be cut away.
Imagine buying a bottle of beer
and dumping half out. It makes me shudder.
I picture the seamstress stifling a smile
when she sees me entering the store.
I’m her sugar daddy. The dwarf.
Three pair of pants. Forty dollars. See you Thursday.
Art Information
- Untitled painting © Mario Loprete; used by permission.
Michael Morell is a poet and nature photographer born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He is the author of the poetry chapbook On Fire, and was the founder and publisher of the poetry journal Sea Change. Michael’s writing has appeared in numerous international journals, including Paterson Literary Review and Rattle. In 2017, he earned a master’s degree in Applied Meditation Studies from the Won Institute of Graduate Studies.
