Lily Beaumont

Thinking about Reactivating My match.com Account while Folding Laundry

Each winter, my legs tangle
in the wash—in spider-bodied knots
of black tights. They cross without
demureness, wad like tissues

I’ve been cleaned out of, but where
the geometric mess of me persists.
Why don’t you wear blue or green
or burgundy, my mom wants to know.

My ready answer: black’s easier
to keep looking fresh (there
are so many ways to bleed
into your stockings). The truth:

it goes with everything, the way
I never seem to manage, myself.

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Lily Beaumont’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in publications including Prolit, Star 82 Review, Crow & Cross Keys and Phantom Kangaroo. She has an MA in English from Brandeis University and currently lives in Central Texas, where she works as a curriculum/study guide developer and editor.