one child much smaller,
party skirt, top with
‘3’ and dried tomato
sauce (is it?) lags
lags behind, pulls
herself up, tries
to follow, eek, slips.
She is no match for her
brother (batman outfit –
probably pyjamas) and his
new shoes.
Note: This is from the ‘poetry retreat’ series. As our first exercise we read ‘Subject Matter’ by W. Hart-Smith and were asked to write poem that paints a picture in four an a half minutes (this took one and a half, I think).
There’s a bobble
kind of wobble
to the walker
on the cobbles.
If you oggle
at a bobble,
it will never
be a gobble.
Not a woggle
nor a goggle,
not mistaken
for a toggle.
There’s a wobble
to a bobble
that can only
be a bobble.
Not a giggle,
nor a wiggle,
and not a hint
of wibble.
There’s a wobble
to a bobble
that can only
be a bobble.
If you snog-gle,
if you snuggle,
you will never
feel a tuggle.
There’s a wobble
to a bobble
that can only
be a bobble.
Occasional blogger – bobble hat, brogues,
pointy-out skirt,
grey tights,
red headphones.
Christmas auntie of
small children – jeggins
(don’t tell anyone), soft top, long
cardigan and (still) Uggs.
Urban gardener in a hurry –
shorts with tights, wellingtons
a parka and pink gardening
gloves with polka dots.
Runner in disguise – dawn-coloured
vibram five fingers (yay!),
black thermal tights (too hot),
blue long sleeve top and
large white plastic sunnies.
Businesswoman with recently
adopted ‘flat shoe’ policy – suit
dress and jacket,
New York snow scene
silk scarf (for winter) and
silver pointy flats.
Writer on the weekend –
stripey slogan top
‘believe’, cream
coatigan with enormous
sleeves and collar
(cosy), grey suede boots.
Woman pretending
to be French – pencil
midi-skirt (striped again,
horizontal), light grey
cashmere jumper, gold
zigzag scarf, just so,
peacoat, maybe Le Monde.
Faux-nonchalant
party-goer – black silk
tracksuit bottoms, gold
lamé linen vest,
leather flip-flops,
enormous studded
clutch.
The endless poetry of
outfits has possessed me;
(spring christening of
new friend’s son, grey
print dress…)
how can I escape? I can’t stop
thinking about
(grown-up beginner
ballerina – …)
the poetry of outfits.
This will have to be
‘Part One.’
(What’s yours?)
The year is ending.
It is time to say goodbye:
To missed opportunities
(new ones will come),
to old patterns of friendship,
to stages of life
that I may not know have gone forever.
It is time to say thank you
for each delight:
Quiet evenings playing the piano,
noisy evenings with friends,
a new neighbourhood pub,
a delivery of beautiful clothes,
chatter of small children,
wisdom of older relatives.
It is time to ask for forgiveness:
For moments when I did not
reach out a hand of friendship
or of grace.
For sniping comments in asides,
for shortcuts,
and holding backs.
It is a time to let go:
To release expectations of others,
to shake off expectations from myself,
to accept what was not accomplished,
to let tears carry away loss,
to set down burdens of false responsibility
to shed the hopes of the old year.
It is time to turn around:
To open up to new hope,
to summon energy and courage,
to breathe in delight,
to laugh in anticipation.
It is time to welcome:
New adventures, new beginnings,
new people and new seasons of old friendships,
challenges bigger than ourselves,
darkness we must face and overcome,
every opportunity to bring beauty,
to offer kindness,
to overlook a fault.
It is time to step forward:
Into what we do not yet know,
into what we have not yet seen,
into what we maybe glimpse from a distance,
into what we know and long for, or even dread,
into each new day, a gift,
It is time to beckon and embrace
who we will become.
Dressing
Out of the bath, it’s time to get dressed. I bet you love dressing up. Whether you are a child or an adult, dressing is a great activity. Let me tell you some more about dressing.
Well first, let’s be clear that there is a continuum of dressing fun (a continuum is a wide range on an imaginary line). On one end, there’s clothes just for being covered and keeping warm. We are lucky that we have enough clothes to always wear a top and bottoms and shoes, and to keep warm. Then along the continuum we have all sorts of extra things that we can do with clothes. We can have clothes for different activities, for gardening, swimming, gymnastics, dancing, climbing mountains, even going to the moon. Then as we go further along the continuum right towards the other end we have clothes that say something. What can clothes say? I hear you ask. Well, this is something very interesting. Imagine you had two outfits, one was a plain top and jeans, and one was a top with a sunshine on and jeans. The outfit you might pick on a particular day might depend on a few things. Let’s have a think about what these clothes might say.
So, why might you pick sunshine top? Well, you might be feeling particularly happy, and want to celebrate it by wearing a sunshine. Or you might be feeling a bit sad, but then think that wearing a sunshine all day would help you to feel happier. Or you might be about to see a friend that day who’s nickname is ‘sunshine’, in which case wearing your top might be like a joke or a wink. Or you might be about to see some friends who need perking up, in which case a sunshine top might do the trick. Can you see that in each case your top is trying say something? ‘I am happy’, ‘I am hopeful of being happy’, ‘ha! I was thinking of you when I got dressed’, or ‘there is something to be happy about’.
Now this is only a very simple example. In fact there are infinite things that clothes can say (infinite means more than can ever be counted). For example, say you wanted to wear your Batman outfit. Perhaps this can say ‘I want to be like Batman, to be brave and rescue people who are in danger.’ Or you might want to wear a vet outfit. Perhaps this can say “I love animals and like practising for being a grown-up’.
One particular outfit that you will have to wear one day is what is called a school uniform. When people go to school, they often have to wear special clothes so that they look the same as each other. Now that we’ve thought of some of the things clothes can say, it might be a bit funny to think of everyone wearing the same. But there are some very clever reasons for a school uniform. The first one is to build what is called ‘esprit de corps’. This is a French phrase which means literally ‘the spirit of the body’, but sometimes it is called ‘team spirit.’ What this means is that instead of everyone all being their own individual selves, doing and wearing whatever they like, they choose to act together (like a body!). This means that they will be kind to each other, and to work towards goals that they share. You can see that in a school, this could be useful. Everyone has a common goal (learning) and wearing the uniform helps everyone to recognise that. In a way a school uniform is saying its own thing, ‘we are here to learn’. There are some other useful reasons for a school uniform. It makes it simple to get ready for school because you don’t spend time wondering what to wear. It also means that when some people have more money and some people have less money, their clothes won’t be able to say this, and so people won’t treat each other differently. You might not have thought about this, but imagine you know two friends and one has a large bag of sweets and one has a small bag of sweets. I’m guessing that you might be tempted to be nicer to the large-bag-of-sweets friend. Over time, we try to train ourselves to be kind to everyone whatever they might be able to offer us, but this takes practice.
When I think about getting dressed I like to choose something that fits how I feel, what I want to say, and what I need to do that day. I take into account whether I will be doing all the same thing, or lots of different things. If lots of different things, then I will need to choose an outfit that is more versatile.
One of my favourite things, which I am sure you will love too, is getting really dressed up for a party, in beautiful clothes. When people all decide to get dressed up in their special clothes, it is as if some magic has come along. All the girls and ladies look more beautiful, and all the boys and men look more handsome. When everyone dresses like this, it is like everyone is saying ‘the world is a beautiful place. Even if sometimes sad things happen, there is still beauty enough to cover over the sad things and help us be hopeful. Each of us has a special part to play in making the world full of joy and delight.’
So what are you going to wear today? I want to wear my new blue velvet coat, so we better plan a trip somewhere!
extraplorer 