Dearest Pablo Neruda
by Mary Langer Thompson

Mara Mori knitted and gifted you some socks
to which you wrote an ode.
You called them violent and glowing,
said they honored your sharkish feet.

But did you respect your new socks
like Marie Kondo tells us moderns to do
in her book about tidying up?
She wouldn’t mind that you put shoes over them.
We all know what socks are for.
And she’d never ask you to keep them
in a golden cage or to feed them birdseed or melon.

But did you ball them up when
it was time for them to rest?
If so, Kondo and I would gasp,
and she would long to tell you
how to fold them properly.

The key to folding is to make a simple rectangle.
Say goodbye to the potato ball.
Untie them! Make them happy.

Don’t let this poem be written for knot!



 

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