Pink Suede Pants and a Nehru Jacket with an American Flag Sewed on it
Sometimes I get nostalgic for my pink suede bell bottom pants
and the maroon Indian print bag with mirrors on it
or the gypsy scarf that I wore as a cape
and sold at a yard sale in Texas
because we had to stuff everything we owned
into one U-haul trailer
when we moved to Virginia in 1985
My younger sister had a T-shirt with a star on it that I loved
She wore it in the high school play Hair
She had also had a pink suede pocketbook
that I nagged her to trade me for
Maybe I paid her good money for it
but the ocean washed over it and left a stain
I joked it was tide-dyed and never liked it after that
or the boyfriend who shot drugs in his veins
And that pink spaghetti strap shirt with the matching jacket
that I wore on my first and only trip to London
with the boy I later had two sons with
I bugged her for that too
My older sister had a peek-a-boo blue and green top
that I still look for in thrift shops
I still dream about sneaking clothes out of her closet
of having all the latest styles like my girlfriend down the street
whose mother was an alcoholic and took her shopping after a binge
I used to love taking the bus to downtown Quincy Square
to shop at Lerners and Remicks (family of the actress named Lee)
I wasn’t nominated for best dressed in high school
even though I spent all my babysitting money on clothes
I washed dishes at the nursing home to buy them
or stole them
I didn’t know I didn’t look good
in anything brown back then
I still love paisley and purple
Did I leave my Nehru jacket in the closet
of the house that burned to the ground
or in the moldy basement of an apartment I rented?
Is my corduroy maxi skirt with the zipper down the front
somebody’s cleaning rag now?
Have the moths eaten my Salvation Army fur coat?
Today I’m drawn to clothes of long ago
like the navy blue suit I never wear
I only bought it because it reminded me
of the suit I wore in the school yearbook picture
of the pep rally team I never belonged to
We just wanted
to look good
and get in more pictures
It wasn’t real wool
~ Colleen Redman 10/6/2011 – Inspired by Jannie Funster. Posted for the dVerse Poet’s Pub Open Link.
October 11th, 2011 11:01 am
Colleen, I floated along on your images here and regularly got punched upside the head with your memories.
I am thinking your Salvation Army coat is worn by some poet who lives in Paris, and she treats it very very well, nary a moth hole to be seen. She has the gypsy cape too. And her poems are almost as good as yours.
Please don’t tell anyone but I stole clothes too, once or twice.
Glad I inspired you. 🙂
xo
October 11th, 2011 1:29 pm
Colleen, do you mean “Nehru jackets”? Nero would have worn a toga. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehru_jacket
October 11th, 2011 1:33 pm
Yes, Nehru, Bonnie! Thanks for your good eye. I didn’t even mean to spell it that wrong. And now I see why my spell check didn’t catch it.
From my recollection that Indian clothes were more popular than tie-dye back then.
October 11th, 2011 1:50 pm
touching. it accumulates into something moving from that buttonhole look at life.
clothes that were almost it for me, or I nearly bought I seem to remember better than clothes I have on my hangers and don’t recognize each time they get shuffled forward.
October 11th, 2011 3:53 pm
now this was an enjoyable fashion history trip…smiles – enjoyed it…thanks for taking us with you on the journey….there are clothes you never forget for one or the other reason..
October 11th, 2011 4:10 pm
Salvation Army coat reminded me of a Navy Pea coat I owned with bright brass buttons. I stopped way above my knees so hardly kept me warm, but I felt hot anyway!
October 11th, 2011 4:21 pm
This is lovely and fun….took me back to things I used to love and that I left behind…sigh.
October 11th, 2011 4:48 pm
There’s a lot of life in these clothes, almost a life of their own, apart from the bad boys and alcoholic moms and burned houses their ideal magic attributes contrast with–excellent poem.
October 11th, 2011 6:21 pm
Colleen, you are a genius! And you’ve had some bad luck, too… Some advice? Stay away from your sister’s things… they bring bad stuff into your life… ocean tides staining purses, boyfriends on drugs, kids! wow….. no, I’m just joking, ocean tides aren’t that bad….. 🙂 I grew up with five sisters…. So I know exactly what you are saying… fun poem!
October 11th, 2011 7:48 pm
Don’t think I’m old enough for some of the clothes mentioned..haha but yes all do have life, from all shapes and sizes, love how you told your tale through clothes.
October 11th, 2011 8:16 pm
Such a trip down memory lane. You very effectively give us a good snapshot in time. My husband still has a pair of leather bell bottoms with fringes!
October 11th, 2011 8:24 pm
I remember some of those “important” clothes when I was a teenager in the ’70s – hiphugger jeans that were so tattered at the bottom, a bright blue shirt with purple VWs, an “Indian” shirt with little mirrors sewn into it.
Love your blog –
October 11th, 2011 11:46 pm
nice…enjoyed the walk through the fashions and the life lived between them…i have strayed little from my jeans and t shirt days…only the names have changed on them…i once wore a white coat…a short lives miami vice…smiles.
October 12th, 2011 12:06 am
Love the Nehru jacket the importance of all these clothes and taking pictures…bkm
October 12th, 2011 12:07 am
Loved this, and tried to think how I guy might write such a piece. I remember white suits for summers only in Delaware decades ago. But I’ve worn jeans forever, and never fashionable. Never liked tie-dyed anything. Never could afford the “right” shoes of the moment. Maybe my black socks were too short sometimes, and I did have a Speedo or two way back — before I decided I prefer nude beaches. I wore many hats, maybe — derby, straw, tophat, captain’s cap, baseball — and one headband in wild colors, way back. Never shoplifted. So really, you had a much more interesting fashion story to tell and you told it so very well in this poem! Thanks for the journey down memory lane!
October 12th, 2011 1:17 am
This brought back so many memories of the clothes that I used to have, and wore years ago.
I have to say that reading the descriptions you shared, I would like to raid your and your sister’s old closets for clothes right now.
October 12th, 2011 8:32 am
this went places you rarely go…good for you.
October 12th, 2011 8:02 pm
Your post sure does bring back memories! I made my own clothes back then: Nehru jacket, a mini-dress with a large Alice in a Wonderland print, flower-patterned bell bottoms and a matching “mod cap.”. I remember a middle-aged woman turning to look at me like I was from Mars when I was wearing those last two items. Thanks for the memory jolt!
October 13th, 2011 9:39 am
i love this post, and your writing, and your life.
I have returned to backpacking and I am thinking it will act as a muse for my writing.
if not, no harm is done
October 13th, 2011 7:58 pm
What a trip!!
I have some wonderful memories of “your” clothes too! My favorite being the strapless white with orange polka dot short jump suit set. I loved it as I loved the pink dress with the big black belt! Clothes are like our identity……I guess we tried being each other for awhile.
October 13th, 2011 8:08 pm
Help me please! Why don’t I remember that polka dot jump suit. I didn’t know I ever wore orange. Did I have the pink dress with the black belt.
I remember an olive wool type shirt dress that I loved and an 8th grade purple pleated skirt with a purple print blouse.
October 14th, 2011 10:24 am
Oh Colleen, It was one of my favorites. I think you bought it, but never liked it too much. It was when you bought so many clothes, I bet you didn’t even realize it. The pink dress I wore to my senior banquet. It was pink, black and white.
January 7th, 2015 11:42 pm
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