the reality of Turtle Neck sweaters

the reality of Turtle Neck sweaters

 

 

fumbling buttons

undressing shadowed sentiment

among the stars shining 

through a rear-window dictation

 

as i write every inch of your breath

in cursive letters,

and send myself the affidavit

that you did exist,

once

that i had touched you, then, with fervor

 

and even though i still feel your momentum

in my arms,

my fingers question the dexterity

of my memory.

 

 

 

erin-cilberto

6/25/16

Reviews

[V]

You use words of different categories but perfectly bring them together, meld them together, forming one entity.
An intelligently written and nicely reading poem. The title is original and made me want to read more, a smart choice.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind review, Vanessa...

j.

[redzone]

back in the day when romance was uninhibited and youthful... she never wore a turtle neck as hickies were worn as a badge of honor and yep we were going steady statements!! But I was never any good with buttons and bra hooks.. she would say and just what are you doing back there in her teasing way and making me blush, which of course lit up the car and all the other cars would start honking their horns.. talk about embarrasssing.. lol.. I always thought is was magic when she started to wear no buttoned pullover blouses and very easy to open bras and if I was a good boy no bra (and this was still back before that was "fashionable")

anyway, your poem (along with Lydi's) reminded me of those days and with my HS girlfriend... and another memory this invoked was as we were getting ready to go home we would write our "I love yous" on the back steamed up windows and how fast the stars were there one minute and gone lost in the foggy windows the next...

you seem to have a grand dexterity of memory Jacob but maybe not as dexterous when it came to those buttons.. ;0)

redzone

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i really enjoyed your story...better than the poem itself....thank you, Curt..

j.

[Carolynn]

I think you must have a very strong recollection of those memories by the sounds of it :) - I was never one for turtlenecks - far too constrictive... This one brings back memories of drive in theatres - what fun! (Though I never had anyone fumbling with buttons lol) - guess I may as well have been wearing that turtleneck haha!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Drive-ins and Briggs street...those were the days of temptation nights, and confessional days.

thank you, Carolynn.

j.

[Lydia Shutter]

Memories are based on truth...or the truth as we saw it. Boys had to have nimble fingers back then...to undo buttons and bra hooks. Smiling at the memory here....the stars shining through the rear window. In retrospect, it was not all that romantic, but, hey, back then, it was heaven. Lydi**

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, not all that comfortable, the back seat or the steering wheel...

but wow the anticipation...your response makes me think of "say anything" and her asking john cusack if he is cold because he is shivering....and him saying he is not...

thank you, Lydi...

j.

[Lydia Shutter]

:) Great scene...yup.

[Bacchus]

the scary silhouette of a turtle neck...
unless it's spandex, right?
hard to get the mind around that much fabric- like a woven road block
wish this one was longer...
but good one.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Bacchus---appreciate your words,
j.

[Corset]

Turtle necks don't have buttons do they? Aren't they all slip overs? I'm sure your fingers were nimble enough ;P nimble fingers, nimble minds :)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

right, no buttons...and the turtle necks basically said "no"---

thank you for your words, and the smile, Corset.

j.

[Corset]

O.o , omg I didn't know that...I thought turtlenecks meant either is was cold as f-k outside or you needed to hide a hickie...damn it...

[h d e rushin]

collars without buttons.....are as fingers without dexterity. interesting analogy, but so true.
I gave a bunch of those old turtlenecks to the Salvation Army last December.....There someone else's
trouble now.

Of course i'm jealous of you Jacob. Jealous of anyone who wakes each day with a poem on their minds...
Yours is a gift my friend........To the rest of us, a task....

great poem.....dana

[jacob erin-cilberto]

you are too kind, my friend; it comes and goes...and they come in bunches...but many days without.read moreyou are too kind, my friend; it comes and goes...and they come in bunches...but many days without.

i am lucky to get to do this...

j.

[Papaya]

I like this one very much. Turtle necks...
Yup... :)

Memories that linger over those accessible curves.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Ana.

j.

[H.L. Cerveise]

I like this poem in that it allows me the reader to paint a picture of some of our past experiences. I felt just like what your words are doing, bouncing and forth between the past and the present. We do this as we do something in normal everyday life that brings back some very vivid past experiences.

Well done.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, H.L.---

j.

[softlyfall]

Concise words about a nearly universal rite of passage. I could learn a lot from you, being given to wordiness.
Excellent

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind review, Amy

j.