Poetry Thursday #6
CHANGE is this week's theme in honor of PT's new website. What changes more than women's fashion? Truthfully, my style doesn't change that much, especially with no job to go to. So when I say good-bye to a favorite style or fabric, it is a sad day. Some go to my "vintage closet"--not to wear, but to look at, like a formal my mother made when I was in high school, or my mother-of-the-bride dress from 1993.
This poem is about the last pair of shoulder pads in my closet. Shoulder pads (for women) returned to fashion in the early 1980s after a hiatus of about 30 years. They started small and then became enormous, and gradually disappeared. Now we all have narrow, dainty, child-like shoulders again instead of looking like we suited up for the middle school football team or the soap opera Dynasty.
On removing shoulder pads from a favorite blouse
by Norma Bruce
Feb. 7, 2007
Others told me
(helpful friends)
someday on my own
strength
would I go
to meet the world
tall, strong, confident.
I’d waver; you were silent.
Mirrors told me
(how they lied)
only with your
help
could I climb
the ladder of
greed, success, power.
I’d arrange; you were silent.
Today told me
(glaring lights)
it was now past
time
should I cling
another minute to
padded, shaped, contoured?
Snip and toss; you were silent.
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20 comments:
This is an interesting poem because it takes a look at the psychology behind shoulder pads.....
Hi Padless Norma, :)
Delightful introduction and poem. Sometimes I'm resourceful and use those old shoulder pads for artsy/crafty projects.
I enjoyed reading the deeper thoughts here that go beyond fashion. The parenthetical parts of your poem add to this effect in time.
i liked this,
i liked how it seemed layered
between the connection
of fashion
to our own self images,
to what we percieve we can or
cannot do...
and being someone who has
held onto certain
"made me feel good"
clothing, this speaks to me
in a special kind of way.
That was fabulous Norma!I loved the the imagery of the shoulder pads.
I was curious what your poem was going to turn out to be - and it's much more than expected. There's a lot going on here, wrapped in such a sweetly simple package.
And thank-goodness for the change, I never could get into the shoulder pad thing!
What a great topic! I especially liked the title and the first stanza. Very nice.
Of course I love this poem - because it is about shoulder pads. How I remember them: like epaulettes on a soldier's uniform. I always felt a little like Bette Midler in "Ruthless People" when I wore them. What a liberating day, to snip them out.
In regard to the poem - I love they way the pads are silent. They speak volumes because of their role, but the pads themselves are only ever as powerful as the meaning we place on them. This comes through so well in the poem, and is obviously therefore about so much mroe than shoulder pads.
I really liked the structure, repetition, use of parentheses here. Great personification.
I like this poem -- it's such a seemingly small thing to analyze, but much more significant in the poem. I love the last lines.
I still remember when I started snipping out shoulder pads in my clothes and when my mom started following suit (ha ha) a year later.
Delightful take on the theme and it brought back my snipping memories ;)
I love that. I would never have expected a poem on that topic.
Interesting take, interesting poem. Intimate subject
I love your individual way of using the prompt. I've never found removing shoulder pads to work, though. The shoulders go all droopy, because they are made wider to accommodate the pads. So I'm curious - does the blouse still fit?
Lately I've been having some fun using an inanimate object to talk to in my poems (yesterday I wrote one about a paper towel), and yes, there are several layers of meaning--how we use ideas or even people to prop us up, and later don't need them; or how we might be asking the right questions but there are no answers. Or even why change is difficult when we believe what we're doing is working. Or more simply, it could just be about shoulder pads in an old blouse. That's what I love about poetry and art, even though I'm very much one to "tell it like it is" (I have 10 blogs).
In answer to Catherine's question do the clothes still fit? Yes, some do. I've removed shoulder pads that I swear were 2.5" thick from a jacket I thought could still be used. Losing weight changes the look of clothes more than losing shoulder pads. This blouse is too old for prime time, but it can still be worn under scratchy more trendy sweaters.
I like the narrative way of the poem.
gautami
Transposition.
Quite original. Shoulder pads as a metaphor for life. So what does it say about me if I have always snipped them out from the day they came into style? For my frame, my shoulders are plenty broad. I really did feel like the middle school line-backer.
Creative post.
And thanks for the visit and compliment.
Big pad on the back / shoulder for Norma. Hello x
Hey thanks for the comment you gave me. I will admit that the poem I wrote was vey confusing. Lately the quality of my waork has been going downhill. I don't understand why. I love your poem by the way. I love the repitition of "you were silent." I'm very jealous.
Today told me
(glaring lights)
it was now past
time
I was struck by these lines especially.
This was an interesting approach. I am so grateful that you snipped the suckers out. Shoulder pads were never a good idea. ;)
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