Poem: With Respect to Hosiery
February 9, 2013 in Blog, Poetry
I admit it. I love my socks–
the way black Dickies
(work style, insulated,
with only enough
non-cotton fibers
to hold them snug
to the calf) bind
around my sweeping
arches with firm conviction
_____
Photo by Striatic, creative commons license, Flickr.
I had a favorite pair of socks. I wore them for three years and this winter, I wore a hole in the heel on each one. I thought about darning them, but couldn’t bear the thought of walking around with that ridge pressing up at me from inside my shoe. In the end, I bid them adieu. It was a sad day.
When I find a good pair I want to buy like 10 of them so I can wear them every day. My very favorites, I have two pair. They inspire me to do my laundry more than once a week.
I like this one a lot! It’s about the mundane, yet somehow a bit provocative. It’s about the richness of the everyday and simple pleasures, similar reasons for why I still love and remember William Carlos Williams’ The Red Wheelbarrow from high school. Thanks.
Thanks Monica. I like the wheelbarrow. Seems like there’s audio out there of Williams reading it, too.
LOVE this. Now I need to research black Dickies.
Think: men’s work socks.
I have now done my research and am proud to say that I will soon be the proud owner of: 1 pair of shoes, 2 pairs of socks, a pair of slacks and a jacket. Thanks!!
Diana, that’s hilarious. Do men’s work socks always have this effect on you?
Heh – you just never know what will tip me over the edge, especially when I’m home feeling lousy and bored and shopping online is so dang easy. :>)
Darn it all. If I had known this, I would have put a pair of Dickies into the Tweetspeak 2013 Poetry Workshop ad, so you could be enchanted enough to go over the Overstreet edge
Well, I’m crazy, but not exactly that kind of crazy. Sounds like a great workshop and if I were not buried by life right now, I might consider it. But I also must whisper to you, who are a very small person as I recall, that those of us over about 5’8″ have to hunt for shoes/socks/slacks that are long enough. This looked like it just might work. :>)
Awesome poem, Lyla! I used to have a favorite pair of socks. I wore them for about two years. They never got a single hole in them!!!
Thanks Lydia! Socks are the best. If it made sense to shower with them on, I’d never take them off. Cool that yours never wore out.
Got my socks, Lyla. Love them. However, I thought I was ordering two PAIR of socks. Turns out I was ordering two PACKS of socks, 6 each. So I sent one pack back, along with the shoes (don’t work with my lousy hammer toes) and the slacks (don’t fit round these thighs and are too long – which is a first, I think). Thanks for the lead. :>)
I still regret giving away an amazing pair of socks that looked like piano keys to a young neighbor who admired them when she came trick-or-treating nearly 30 years ago.
p.s. I found you thanks to Darrelyn Saloom’s March 1 post, Garden District Book Event, illustrated by your evocative photo of those lonely old train tracks. http://darrelynsaloom.com/2013/03/01/garden-district-book-event/