Coming Out of the Closet

For National Poetry Month (April) I sorted through my backlist of poems and thought I'd publish a few here for my faithful readers.  Here's one that has scrolled around the country and been rejected numerous times, but yet has managed to catch the eye of some editors who have found it delightful.  Not everyone publishes "light verse" however, and this is one of my favorites, despite its rotund rejection.  I'm sure this is the best poem I've ever written about coming out of the closet.




Closet

Hanging on the closet rack
are khakis, linens, corduroys,
blue jeans, sweats, and in the back
a pair of long johns.  A turquoise

button-down for golf is clipped
inside a blazer.  And alone--
inside the plastic as it shipped--
an overcoat of herringbone.

The rainbow hues of summer wear
are stashed on hooks, a few Hawaiian;
and ties displayed--so debonair--
through strips of metal with the eye in

each a Windsor knot.  Beneath
the clothing, on the carpet, shoes
on tightened wooden trees bequeath
a scent of leather and diffuse

their oddly aromatic traces.
The vacant hangers shift, extrude,
and beckon me to take their places
as I slip out of the nude.