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.
