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/ / /
hardhat
they’re digging up the street outside my building
putting something in or maybe taking something out
one of the workers left his hardhat on my stoop
I snuck it inside while he was at lunch
now I wear it while I write poems or update Twitter
my desk has become a construction site where I build new selves
assembling them from all the might-have-beens
putting cardboard cutouts of myself on every street corner
this one never left home / stayed in the Berkshires
this one convinced Mom and Dad to send him away
on this corner is a me who graduated from college
he’s a music teacher in a small town in Massachusetts
this one got while the getting was good
drove west with the top down and the right companion
even though it’s me who builds them
I’ve never figured out which cut of the scissors
which angle, greatened or lessened, makes the difference
allows me to split into a new being
to take on the trappings of a new life
I’m worried that my scissors are getting dull
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