An Elegy to the Ravelled Sleeve for NaPoWriMo 2024, Day 29

17 Replies

The prompt for NaPoWriMo was to write a poem making use of one of ten words from Taylor Swift lyrics. Once again given to excess, I’ve written a poem making use of them all.  Here are the words: Cardigan, elegy, Mercurial, antithetical, albatross, self-effacing, altruism, incandescent, Machiavellian, clandestine.


An Elegy to The Ravelled Sleeve

Here’s an elegy from this bard again,
to my worn-out cardigan.
It’s challenged in its warp and weave,
unravelling about the sleeve,
and yet I wear it, nearly neckless,
causing folks to call me feckless.
I persist in my rebellion,
feeling slightly Machiavellian.
The opposite of narcissism
is my act of altruism
as I decide that it is better
to donate money for a sweater
to my local homeless shelter
so someone lacking clothes that swelter
can thereby don and thus bedeck
an albatross around their neck!
Self-effacing to the end,
perhaps I’ll start another trend
by donning daily my sweater’s dregs
instead of slit-pants on my legs.
Antithetical to current fashion,
clandestine in my garment passion,
Mercurial and incandescent,
my  mood purely effervescent,
I’ll stride down the street with glee,
my favorite sweater surrounding me!

(My apologies to Mr. Shakespeare!  )

This entry was posted in Humor, Poem and tagged , , , , on by .

About lifelessons

My blog, which started out to be about overcoming grief, quickly grew into a blog about celebrating life. I post daily: poems, photographs, essays or stories. I've lived in countries all around the globe but have finally come to rest in Mexico, where I've lived since 2001. My books may be found on Amazon in Kindle and print format, my art in local Ajijic galleries. Hope to see you at my blog.

17 thoughts on “An Elegy to the Ravelled Sleeve for NaPoWriMo 2024, Day 29”

        1. lifelessons Post author

          I must admit that I detest the ripped and slashed jeans look.. Such a waste of formerly pristine garments. Sweaters are much more likely to unravel on their own, however, and I can imagine wearing a sweater naturally unravelling.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply ↓
  3. kim881

    I really enjoyed your elegy, Judy, and felt sorry for that worn-out cardigan ‘challenged in its warp and weave,
    unravelling about the sleeve’.

    I love the rhyming, especially in these lines:

    ‘…I decide that it is better
    to donate money for a sweater
    to my local homeless shelter
    so someone lacking clothes that swelter
    can thereby don and thus bedeck
    an albatross around their neck!’

    Like

    Reply ↓

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.