The Pea Coat

by Tim Tipton

Arranging the lost closet of clothes
you will no longer wear.
I come to find that old pea coat of yours.
The one you wore all the time like a suit of armor.
I took the coat to my nose.
This gesture endeared me to you absolutely.
In this visual world,
this modern landscape of polyester,
cotton, nylon, and pigment,
it is the smell inside this damn coat
that almost holds what’s left of you.