SYMPTOM CHECK

Sore back. Tricky knee. Light
Flashing in the corner of my eye—
Becoming me—or a pearl
Depending, droplet

Luminating the edge
Of sight. That tooth has ached
Since I flew over the handlebars
—What, gone ten years

Now—and that itch between
My ribs I've had off-then-on
Forever, now always on.  Each

Achoo and scratch-eye, a patch
Tingling my scalp. The tears,
Sure. And don't forget the rage.

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ORIGINAL WAIST OVERALLS

Levi's Shrink-to-Fit 501's, 1890, 1973, 2023

Eighty-three years after their invention, you sat
Their ass right down on the sidewalk and left
               Days between washings, weeks, your

Defense being you didn't wear them
               Against bare partsbut you did, sometimes

All of them all day, and the fabric took on your
Body's shape and motion, what might
               Rub here and touch there, swell or undo

You over decades.  If, another half
               -century on, you become

               Smoother, more decorous, they do by
The same degrees and you don't notice

               Your limp coming on or side-hitch list
Or even a late straightening out, we
Can hope. Still fading, thinning, softening

               Where you work them, they fray into
Their best selves until you reach the day

               You can't live hard enough to wear them
Out, their knees and seats unspent, threads
Deep indigo and anything but bare.

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As I get older, I am increasingly interested in what changes and what remains the same - in my body (evolving aches and pains), in my tastes in art and food, in my closet, etc.  Since I've always owned at least two pairs of Levis Shrink-to-Fit 501s since I was 12 (1972), they represent both change and continuity in my life, each new pair adapting to and fading around my shape and how I wear them, both of which change over time even as 501s have remained the same since 1971 (I still wear the original men's version).  My attachment might be considered eccentric. For a history of the jeans since their invention in 1873, please see [here].