NPM 2015: What Are You Wearing, Donna Smith?

What are you wearing for National Poetry Month 2015, readers? How about today's find, an upcycled denim skirt with ribbons of poetry embroidered on it?

Colors of the Snake River poem skirt
with poem hand-painted on silk ribbon
available at Etsy.

Throughout April, guest bloggers are dressing up in their poetry finery as Author Amok features poems about clothes. Why clothes? Read this post.

In addition to the guest bloggers, every Friday in April I'll post a round-up of original and recommended clothing poems. (Send those via email to laurashovan at gmail dot com or leave them in the comments). You'll find this week's writing prompt at the bottom of this post.

Time to stop skirting the issue and get to today's clothing poetry post. Guest blogging for us is Donna Smith of Mainely Write.  So, Donna, what are you wearing?

“What are you wearing for NPM?” they asked.

“Once I had a tutu or two”, I trilled, skirting the question addressed to me...

Quote by Elle MacPherson: “I wanted so badly to study ballet, but it was really all about wearing the tutu.”

For me it was not just about the tutu (though a good tutu can take attention off many a misstep).  I loved dance, especially ballet.  I began lessons when I was in first grade, but even before that, I would dance to any music playing...even the music playing in my head.

Alas, as I got into my middle teen years, I realized that I did not have that long, lean dancer’s body that I thought I should have, and gave up that dream.

My first poem offering here is an original, paying homage to my younger self, and my older self, who gave up becoming a dancer:

Skirted

when I was but a little girl

I loved to twirl

and swirl

my spinning skirt would billow out

I had no doubt

about

my dream that I was born to dance

as in a trance

I’d prance

with leaps and bounds, my pointed toe

smooth rhythm flow

aglow

upon my stage of grassy glade

in verdant shade

a maid

in skirt with pleats of flower hue

one day time flew

and blew

into the now my skirt was swept

no promise kept

I wept.

©Donna JT Smith, 2015

In some ways I think writing poetry and dancing are very similar.  You need a music and a rhythm, you need a flow, you need heart and soul, and you need to breathe it in and out.  I gave up dance, but found a new dance in poetry.

My daughter also learned to dance, (and sew). I wrote this poem for her when she sent me a picture of herself twirling out on the sunny green lawn in her new dress she made from a bed sheet:  

A Tyburn to a Twirl

Whirly

Twirly

Curly

Girlie

Spinning in her whirly, twirly dress

Is my little curly, girlie lass.

by Donna JT Smith, 2013

Just had to include this picture of my daughter’s skirt that she made from old neckties! It has been in storage, so it needs a little steaming perhaps, but you get the idea!

One of my favorite poets of all time, and probably greatest influence in my own writing is Robert Louis Stevenson.  He was one of the first poets of whom I was made aware as a child.  My mother gave me the book, A Child’s Garden of Verses (first published in 1900), and I read it over and over savoring the smooth and easy rhythms and rhymes in each poem.

There are two poems in this volume that have “skirts” mentioned in them.  Women always wore long skirts back then, and even in my childhood, skirts were the norm for women.  Even as a child in school, girls could not wear slacks, unless it was winter...and then only under your skirt outside at recess.

Check out (http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/  Lit2Go.  It is a free collection of stories and poems in audio and pdf formats.  There are also many that have a word count, the reading level and activities for your classroom.

Auntie's Skirts

By Robert Louis Stevenson

Whenever Auntie moves around,

Her dresses make a curious sound,

They train behind her up the floor...

Read or hear the poem here.

The Wind

by Robert Louis Stevenson

I saw you toss the kites on high 

And blow the birds about the sky; 

And all around I heard you pass, 

Like ladies' skirts across the grass-- 

                   wind, a-blowing all day long, 

                   wind, that sings so loud a song! 

Read more of the poem here.

Hymn to the Night

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the trailing garments of the Night

      Sweep through her marble halls!

I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light

      From the celestial walls!

Read the rest of the poem here.

Putting Tu and Two Together

Skirts,

Tutus, 

Dresses,

Muu muus

Require

you have

the proper

hair-dos,

And on

your feet

the right (and left)

shoe-shoes.

©Donna JT Smith, 2015

Donna has recently retired from teaching, having taught first, second, third and sixth grades; and computer technology. She has written many poems and has produced two photo/poem collection books: “The Fall of the Leaves of Fall” and “Winter Ways”; and has had her poem “Two Rainbows and the Moon” published in an online poetry collection by Shadow Express. Her blog, Mainely Write, has much of her poetry collection online.

BTW: Donna wears a skirt every day.  Yes, literally, every day. 

She has a skirt for every day;

She owns no slacks, no jeans for play -

And even in the snow they stay;

She likes the way they swish and sway!

©Donna JT Smith, 2015

Thank you for visiting Donna. I love that you are an unapologetic skirt-wearer. Skirts are my go-to in the summer months. And I still remember a favorite skirt from childhood that was nearly floor-length, quilted, and brown. What can I say, it was the 70s.

ICYMI: In our poetry closet, you will find...

Introductory Post

Jane Elkin looks in her childhood closet. Poems by Mark Irwin and Ron Koertge.

Tabatha Yeatts shares an ensemble of clothing poems by Greg Pincus.

Margaret Gibson Simon tries on orange high heels. Poem by Ellen Bass.

Robyn Hood Black borrows Alice Schertle's "Hand-me-down Sweatshirt."

Jone MacCulloch wears her Grandma Mac's aprons.

Heidi Mordhorst pulls on some big, black boots.

Linda Baie's outfit would not be complete without a poem in her pocket.

Catherine Johnson getting dressed with Alexander Resnikoff.

Robyn Campbell is showing off her favorite vintage clothes with a poetic picture book from Mary Ann Hoberman.

*Your suggested clothing poem prompt for Friday, April 24: Vintage

Tell the story of an old article of clothing. It might be the oldest thing currently hanging in your closet, something you found in a vintage or second hand store, a Christening gown passed down through your family (I have my grandfather's, from 1898), or an old concert tee that you can part with, even though it no longer fits. Begin with "It reminds me of the time when..."

Send your poems any time. I'll post original work and recommended poems on Friday.