Some Mornings

Some mornings, writing the date
at the top of the page
I feel as though I am pinning myself
not only to the day
but to my whole life
the way a woman pins a dress pattern
to a length of cloth.
The way the sleeve fits
along the fold, how the hem
runs to this end, the delicate neckline
to the other, that's how I fit
into my life, its material chosen for me
long before I first lay down against it,
long before I allowed the first pin to be fixed.