because poems are simple, even when life isn't—plus, they don't care what's for dinner
The most popular brand
is just a question mark at the bottom
of an inverted triangle.
Status attached
to a symbol sewn by one thin thread
onto back-pocket denim.
A single breath
of next week’s gossip would break
a bond that weak.
Don’t second-guess. Wear the jeans that fit.
Lie down at the top of the green hill
and let yourself roll. Go home laughing.
—Monica Sharman, from Casual: A Little Book of Jeans
Poems & Photos, T. S. Poetry Press
We met for family time at an indoor waterpark.
After pizza in our hotel room—cheese, veggie, meat supreme—
we cut shoe patterns out of old jeans
to give some soles some hope.
My grandgirl grimaced at the video
of skinny Ugandan children with jiggers.
Next day, she bought a pair of Nikes
82 dollars
and new jeans
in a skinny cut.
—Sandra Heska King, from Casual: A Little Book of Jeans Poems & Photos, T. S. Poetry Press