Poem for February 2012

Poem for February 2012

Clevelanders--at least those who have survived more than one winter here--have perfected the science and the art of dressing for the weather.

            Meredith Holmes

Ode to My Favorite Coat by Gail Bellamy

Winter is a monolith:

Half-frozen faucets whisper like warlocks;

weather strips under the doors

shriek like banshee squeegees.

The earth tilts, the solstice smirks

and somewhere dockside and frigid

under a concrete-colored sky

a revolutionary in a second-hand

pea coat leans into the wind.

I am not as cold as he is. I’m wrapped

in my Lord & Taylor full-length pea coat—

a minor work of art, constructed of part cashmere,

with a slippery red satin lining. My arms

slide into it like keys into an oiled lock.

Matter of fact, when I wore it to the hardware

store to pick up a deadbolt, I think

several people there envied its practicality. 

My coat buttresses me;

I crawl inside it to a secret room

with a window looking out onto spring. 

Double-breasted, it boasts a flirty slit up the back

like a maestro’s tails, its buttons engraved with anchors,

its apex a velvet-lined collar, nothing like

what you’d wear to stand on a dock. 

One of its deep pockets has a loose bit of lining;

rather endearing, really, that one sign of age.