On January 20 we gathered at Jan’s to share our poems about clothing. As Jan says,
Poetry has always been drawn to the subject of dress and undress…
Thus it’s the topic I’ve chosen
be it tunics or robes
or blouses of silk
pantaloons, trousers or lieder hosen.
Poets, it seems, have indeed had a lot to say about what we wear. If it weren’t so, our meeting would not have run so long. We almost didn’t have enough time to give each contribution its due.
Honor Moore (1945- ) – bio – essay by Meghan Cleary about shoe poems
Charles Simic (1938- ), current Poet Laureate – bio from the Library of Congress
Anonymous – Although this poem, which criticizes Black people for buying clothing from racist companies, has been attributed to Maya Angelou, her Web site claims she has no affiliation with it.
Marge Piercy (1936- ) – bio
My Mother’s Body – We read section 3.
Donall Dempsey – bio – haiku entitled “Divesting Oneself of One’s Clothing”
Tree does a striptease
the dance of the thousand leaves
naked in sunset.
Pablo Neruda – (1904-1973) – bio
Anne Sexton – (1928-1974) – bio
The Red Shoes (scroll about halfway down the page)
Robert Herrick (1591-1674) – bio
Judith Viorst (1931- ) – bio
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) – bio
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) – bio
Hamlet
Act I. Scene III
Polonius to Laertes
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Shel Silverstein (1930-1999)
Tryin’ On Clothes
Robert Pinsky (1940- ) –bio
Anne Waldman (1945- ) –bio
The Poets' Notebook 