Birth of a New Poem

Have you ever had an image of something swirling around in your head for days, nagging at release in some creative form or other?  From time to time I see something, taste or smell something that triggers a memory from the past.  It can be a smell that hurtles me into the home I grew up in or a smell that brings back one of my grandmothers. 

Recently, I thought about the dress I wore at my high school graduation.  It was THE perfect dress!  I loved the way it fit, the way I looked and felt when I wore it.  Naturally, I can't put my hands on a photo of me in the dress although I know I have several stashed away in some box or other.  Anyway, I asked a couple of female friends if they ever had a "special" dress or outfit that stood out above all others in some way, for some reason.  Turns out every one of them said they did.

This morning I felt the need to make time to be creative.  Another half-formed poem was germinating in the back of my mind, so I sat down to bring it to life.  I also needed to "do something" with THE dress.  And so I did.  Here is the poem that sprung from that need:

The Dress

Most women,
I suspect,
wear one dress
(or two, perhaps)
that lingers in memory
as perfection,

that gift wraps
a pearl,
one crystalline stitch
in time.

Mine
was white cotton,
gossamer-
with sleeveless bodice
of delicate pleats
tightly
cinched
at the waist,
cascading in gentle folds
to just below the knee.

Twirling before the mirror
I could find no fault
in my reflection-
a rarity, I dare say,
in the feminine psyche.

Graduation Day,
threshold of the time of milk and honey
and I was Aphrodite,
Cinderella,
cloaked in clarity
with one glass slipper atop
the translucent pattern
that paved the road ahead.

~~~Pam Patterson 6/30/10