The Tight Fit
Bright days shrink
in a night that doesn’t fit
like wool in the washer
left to dry in the dryer
when it wanted to be in the sun
Two sizes too small
rises up and restricts
its fringe unravels
and threads wear thin
Until the sun begins
to slow its path
and the light wins back
its prominence
Until the sky lets out
its hemmed in brim
and lifts the shroud
of dark confinement
Cuts a remnant
from the longest night
for a red-carpet spread
that warms as it mends
that unfolds the hold
of times outgrown
with room to move
and new patterns to choose
______Colleen Redman / Poets and Storytellers United
January 10th, 2021 2:27 am
I love the way this progresses. Beautifully metaphorical.
January 10th, 2021 3:45 am
I love the extended wool shrinkage metaphor, Colleen! I’m looking forward to the day when:
‘…the sky lets out
its hemmed in brim
and lifts the shroud
of dark confinement’
and those new patterns to choose.
January 10th, 2021 5:55 am
A few months ago I bought a woollen sweater and after it’s first wash it shrank to too small status. None of my other sweaters have done this. If anything they grew bigger!
January 10th, 2021 6:06 am
Beautiful poem
My favourite “Cuts a remnant
from the longest night
for a red-carpet spread”
January 10th, 2021 8:03 am
Well done, CR.
One positive: sweaters, shrunken by accident, may be donated to keep smaller people warm. Cold people become desperate, turn toward ill action to find warmth.
Peace.
January 10th, 2021 8:54 am
yes, i hope this new year will be better. a better fit for all. 🙂
January 10th, 2021 1:16 pm
Collen–gentle and so beautifully expressed–we are all trying to find room to move again–stay safe in the new year–
January 10th, 2021 1:40 pm
A lovely reversal from discomfort to hope.
January 10th, 2021 1:55 pm
Let us hope “the light wins back its prominence”, we weary of the darkness!
January 10th, 2021 2:34 pm
You are one of the most cool poets I read … cool translates to talented, enjoyable, relatable.
January 10th, 2021 3:27 pm
I like the comparison to wool shrunk in the drier.
January 10th, 2021 5:14 pm
Colleen, I love this one. It reads like a stretch, a very warm stretch after body and spirit have been cocooned for a too long winter. Like a exhale that invigorates the lungs and tells the rest of the flesh and bones that brighter things are not only possible, but that they are on the way…
January 10th, 2021 6:39 pm
I am sooooo ready to stretch into something new too. But time feels so slowed down, and spring feels so far away.
January 12th, 2021 5:52 pm
Wow! Thank you, Colleen!