Friday, June 17, 2011

Thread Count 400



Wearing my heartbreak
on
my
collar
buttoned
too
tight
stiff-starched
head held
appear
             direct
heart hidden
beaneath  pima cotton and
mother of pearl
no care
             reflected
stitched shamelessly
piercing
               provoke

intrude and escape
hold me together.







Notes on Writing:  The first line of “Thread Count 400” started as “wearing my heartbreak on my collar buttoned too tight sometimes,” jotted quickly on my notepad at home one day. The rest of the writing came several weeks later, rewritten several times—with intermittent consultations from my thesaurus and my fifteen year old daughter. I truly worked this poem on paper, as opposed to letting in run through my brain until it was worthy of the page (at least in my mind). This papyrus editing process is new for me in the poetry realm and was previously used only for greater (read more words) works.

At the time I was working on this reflection, my son was six and suggested that I write a poem on dishes, and so I did. In conclusion, I would like to share it with you for your reading pleasure:


I wishes I didn’t
have to do dishes.

7 comments:

  1. I loved your poem.

    Oh, and I love my dishwasher.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, I love your first line! Isn't it great when things we just "jot down" really lead us towards something greater?

    I work most of my poems on paper. For some reason, poetry is more of a personal thing to me. I like the intimacy of physically writing the words.

    Nice poem(s)! Stopping by from RDC.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very nice! I had to read it a few times to start to "get" it (that means its good). I like all the alliteration of "p" sounds. Also, the dishes one should be on a teeshirt! Stopping by from RDC!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sometimes I think just putting it down on the old papyrus helps! Since I am a big alliteration fan, I like the h's and the p's...read aloud much better than with the eyes. Keep it up!

    (The dish poem is likely my favorite...you will go down in history with that one)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Saying hello from the red dress. I too wish I did not have to do dishes. Like your poem.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am a big fan on working things on paper. It just seems to flow more easily. And I love the dish poem. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great poem! Really good job. Another fellow paper-writer. :)

    ReplyDelete

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