Maryellen Davis Collett

Inside Out

I wear you on the outside now--
Legs jangling,
Arms embracing,
Little hands making do.
I watch your Botticelli eyelids
Stretched taught
In the rapture
Of a first autumn wind.
I wear you on the outside now--
Belly to belly
We move sideways
Like dancing carps,
Mirrorwise,
Circling our food.
I wear you on the outside now--
And in the corner of your chirping mouth
I gape
And glimpse the timbre of your soul.
I wear you on the outside now—
And finally know What I am for:
For turning inside out.


 

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Maryellen Davis Collett is an Associate Professor of Theology at Lewis University. She has been writing poetry since childhood. She lives in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago with her husband, Keith, and baby daughter, Maya Marie.