Day 8 Prompt: Metaphor
Form: Free Verse
“Winter Coat”
Early April day
Forecast calls for sun
And 78 degrees
But I am taking my winter coat off the hanger
It is dark blue
Thick with grey fur you can see alone the edges of the collar
and the cuffs
I grunt at the weight as I fling it behind me
Frustration swells as my left hand blindly searches for the sleeve
My heart calms as I feel the lining meet my arm
A sense of comforting despair encloses me while
I shimmy the coat until it fits on my shoulders
Like an old friend
Who you know tells your secrets
But no one else picks up the phone
when you call late at night
The sun is bright
as I open the door to the day
I stuff my hands into the pockets
That feel as deep as the Mariana Trench
I have lost countless scraps of paper
With love poems scratched on them
I’ve lost handfuls of change
Both money and personal
in the depths of those pockets
My finders have never felt the seems
at the bottom
no matter how far I reach inside of them
I step outside
Pause at the top step to button up
I know it is going to be one of those beautiful spring days
For others
The buttons are worn smooth from the years
Small scratches of regret,
The thread barely holding on
One angry tug and they would be gone
I pull the collar up around my neck
protection against the warmth that awaits on the sidewalk
The fur is thick
Musty from the sweat of panic
that collects behind my ears
A friend would not be able to recognize me
if I walked past them
No exchange of hellos
or stopping to catch up on lost time
I know everyone will simply walk by
Eyes averted by a screen
or discomfort
from the site of me
Wearing my winter coat
in 78 degrees
on a sunny April day
