98poems/newmoon

New moon in Virgo,
what to throw away?
A skirt I just bought
which my skin does
not like.
That red cookbook
I’ve wanted to be rid
of for years, except
when I’m making
blueberry pie.

Better still to be rid
of this numb thumb,
which makes my world
something I no longer
want to touch,
which renders corn
chips a torture,
an emery board
an impossibility.
It is only happy
now when it is
clenching a pen,
but then it always
was.

9/15/98