Poetry and Clothing Project: May

Time to update you on the progress of my 'Poetry and Clothing' project in which I'm making at least one garment a month for a year for my inspirational and super-talented friend Harriet. The first installment was in April, and now that May's package is firmly in her mitts, I'm safe to divulge its contents.

Using my latest pattern obsession (which could soon rival Simplicity 3835 for my affections), I made Harriet a Simplicity 2451 in some of the leftover spotty sateen from my Ceylon dress. This curtain-in-a-former-life fabric was the perfect weight for this style, plus it doesn't crease particularly easily so this skirt should hold its shape well when worn all day. It's possibly not quite the basic wardrobe staple she could really do with, but hopefully it is plain enough to match its way into a few outfits.

Along with the skirt travelled a canvas bag I got at a recent etsy networking meetup I went to (which wasn't particularly useful or interesting, but I got to have a natter plus there was free wine).

In response to the package I sent her in April, harriet wrote me a poem, it's so beautiful that it seems a shame for it to only be read by myself. I'm sure she won't mind, want to read it?

April

She was on the right side of light
tucked her edges between nautical stripes.

She found gambling to be
much as the films had promised and

played poker out on deck, with a frosted glass
in one hand and the ocean in the other.

She forgot the sickening tug of the tide,
or that she has hidden somewhere up her sleeve

that loyalty was to love them and leave them
and love them in the creases of here to there.

She wore battered plastic (low tide treasure)
and a well-worn squint (high sun demanded it)

time was elastic out there, throwing buttons
into the swell for good luck

to wash up, stretched and new
on someone else's shore.


I feel so special to have had a poem written for me!