A Coat

I made my song a coat 
Covered with embroideries 
Out of old mythologies 
From heel to throat; 
But the fools caught it, 
Wore it in the world’s eyes 
As though they’d wrought it. 
Song, let them take it
For there’s more enterprise 
In walking naked.

BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
(First published in Poetry Magazine, 1914)

This small poem by W.B. Yeats is one of my favorites, another one that I have inadvertantly memorized. Once I realized the poem I wanted to write for today, in celebration of my sister, Karla’s birthday, then I realized that I wanted this song of a poem to kick things off! (Many thanks, Susan, for responding so quickly with a photograph of your own beautiful coat!)

Is there more enterprise in walking naked? Partial as I am to embroideries, I have pondered this long and long, and I am still not sure. I am, however, so grateful for this poem, encountered first in an informal study group with Doris Kammradt and Anne Johnson, in Madison, in that in-between time after college and before graduate school. Yeats’s poems teach me over and over the eloquence of the poetic enterprise.

Context for My Poem, “Green Coat”:

I am not skilled in the art of the Selfie–not by a long shot–but I wanted to give a sense of the wonderful gift my dear sister gave to me recently. It wasn’t for any special occasion but it was received during what seemed like an unending winter when I was always cold. Once I donned this magical coat, however, I felt warmed through and through. It cuts the wind. The inside of the pockets feel like velvet. I love the color. And when I wear it, I feel my sister’s love protecting me. So, for me, this green coat is both real and mythological and came, as magical things do, all unasked for.

Until tomorrow, LESLIE