Dressing Helena Haack

was the raising of cloth over
hands while I sat outside

the red door only covers
the in-between part

was watching her feet move
back and forth

first the right foot crosses
the left foot or

was the right foot really
the right foot then or

maybe the left foot
danced in celebration—there

was a great consciousness of
an ordered unit and the left

foot always knew where the
right foot was supposed to move

was it that she tells toes to
move precisely to the—

—sure that I must bow in
reverence to the sacred ritual

was a part of divine nature and
she must never come out for

it is the place of the holy—the
dead—the young shapeless

was piling the clothes in the
corner for remembrance