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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>In response to Debbie Gray’s last post on tracing a T-shirt,
sharing this Pinsky poem might move impressions along a little faster. (I don’t
know whether this is a copyright violation to post this or not, and would
appreciate having someone correct me, or report me, if you will.) <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p><span style='text-decoration:none'> </span></o:p></span></font></u></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p><span style='text-decoration:none'> </span></o:p></span></font></u></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><u><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Shirt <br>
</span></font></u>by Robert Pinsky, former Poet Laureate of the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The back, the yoke, the yardage. Lapped seams,<br>
The nearly invisible stitches along the collar<br>
Turned in a sweatshop by Koreans or Malaysians<br>
Gossiping over tea and noodles on their break<br>
Or talking money or politics while one fitted<br>
This armpiece with its overseam to the band<br>
Of cuff I button at my wrist. The presser, the cutter,<br>
The wringer, the mangle. The needle, the union,<br>
The treadle, the bobbin. The code. The infamous blaze<br>
At the Triangle Factory in nineteen-eleven.<br>
One hundred and forty-six died in the flames<br>
On the ninth floor, no hydrants, no fire escapes--<br>
The witness in a building across the street<br>
Who watched how a young man helped a girl to step<br>
Up to the windowsill, then held her out<br>
Away from the masonry wall and let her drop.<br>
And then another. As if he were helping them up<br>
To enter a streetcar, and not eternity.<br>
A third before he dropped her put her arms<br>
Around his neck and kissed him. Then he held<br>
Her into space, and dropped her. Almost at once<br>
He stepped up to the sill himself, his jacket flared<br>
And fluttered up from his shirt as he came down,<br>
Air filling up the legs of his gray trousers--<br>
Like Hart Crane's Bedlamite, "shrill shirt ballooning."<br>
Wonderful how the pattern matches perfectly<br>
Across the placket and over the twin bar-tacked<br>
Corners of both pockets, like a strict rhyme<br>
Or a major chord. Prints, plaids, checks,<br>
Houndstooth, Tattersall, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Madras</st1:place></st1:City>.
The clan tartans<br>
Invented by mill-owners inspired by the hoax of Ossian,<br>
To control their savage Scottish workers, tamed<br>
By a fabricated heraldry: MacGregor,<br>
Bailey, MacMartin. The kilt, devised for workers<br>
to wear among the dusty clattering looms.<br>
Weavers, carders, spinners. The loader,<br>
The docker, the navvy. The planter, the picker, the sorter<br>
Sweating at her machine in a litter of cotton<br>
As slaves in calico headrags sweated in fields:<br>
George Herbert, your descendant is a Black<br>
Lady in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">South Carolina</st1:place></st1:State>,
her name is Irma<br>
And she inspected my shirt. Its color and fit<br>
And feel and its clean smell have satisfied<br>
both her and me. We have culled its cost and quality<br>
Down to the buttons of simulated bone,<br>
The buttonholes, the sizing, the facing, the characters<br>
Printed in black on neckband and tail. The shape,<br>
The label, the labor, the color, the shade. The shirt. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><i><u><font size=3
color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;
font-style:italic'>Copyright</span></font></u></i> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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