Dresses
Searching the racks takes time, selecting the right dress.
Color combinations with style, feeling the cloth and stitch.
Looking for dresses to hide what shouldn’t be there,
You select several to try on, one too small one too large
You look at several, wondering how they will fit,
Too long, too short, up to the neck, or reveals the chest.
Waist too wide or none at all, to cover arms, to show all.
Some that button in front, others in the back
Which to take to the room and which to leave on the rack.
You reject more than you select to carry to the room.
The others ladies look at you but do not stare.
You can only imagine what they must be thinking
To watch you search the racks for glorious dresses.
The owner shows interest, helps with selections,
Giving suggestions for styles and size.
Then leads you to that magic place
Where you only dream of becoming butterflies.
You watch reactions from other shoppers
As they see the butterfly emerge from her cocoon
With her selection of colors in dresses.
As she takes flight from the gray of her inner room.
I noticed that I did not date this poem as I have dated others, but believe it to be written sometime on the spring of 2003. Finding color is not hard when one roams the many racks of dress. Cloths embolden with large flowers, colorful prints, wonderful splashes of styles, shapes of design to give greatest visual pleasures of color.
I believe that I needed strong, brilliant colors found in the dresses I chose to overcome the drab and grays of men's clothing that I wore every day. Oh there are men's shirts with color, don't get me wrong, like all the Hawaiian print and motifs, but they were not the same or even could transport me to another world like the colors found with women's clothing. Colorful dresses which I would use to light up my soul and gain moments of strength, dressed as I knew I would live one day. As Sarah, like all things bright and beautiful.
