February 16, 2009

I've been wearing these
jeans lately, frayed reminder
of when my grandfather
knelt down in an August
tomato patch, sliced watermelon
with my older sister, froze water,
and danced a late century
Charleston, his hands covering the
worn denim of his knees.

I've been wearing these
jeans lately that people
mistake for commercial
weathered and machine aged,
these jeans some people buy
like they'd buy my grandfather:
two fishing poles and a
bucket of small perch, I
could never bait myself.