Monday, February 03, 2014

Tuesday Poem: Every night on the road by Dennis Woodley



Every night on the road

I wash my old red socks

which have faded to

two different shades of pink


as if they have 

different stories to tell 

of the same journey


Dennis Woodley, from an unpublished ms. Fifty Firelighters. Published with permission of the author. Dennis writes:
The poem  "every night on the road"  was written after reading notes I had made during the OZ poets tour  of several U.S. States in 1994  after the Austin International Poetry Festival in Texas. . I had been going through one of my many Caravaggio periods ( he apparently often wore all black with red stockings) I had bought a half dozen pairs of red socks at a Big Lots in Cookeville Tennessee for 50 cents a pair. They were poorly dyed and after colouring most of my "lights" in the washing  machine  to a pinkish tinge they seemed to fade to many different red/pink hues.     They were equally treated in my eyes yet became so different.

What I love about this poem is the way Dennis has moved from the small, observed moment to suggest a more philosophical question. 

Dennis Woodley is appearing at the Dan O'Connell Hotel in Melbourne, Saturday 15th February. Head to the Dan from 2.00 pm - and byo poems - there is an Open Mic.

Head over to the Tuesday Poem hub and navigate your way to other lyrical reminders that we need poetry in our lives.

2 comments:

Louise Campbell said...

Enjoyed this and adding it to my file of poems I like!

Cattyrox said...

High praise, Louise Campbell!