Poppies
Jane Weir
“Three days before Armistice Sunday
and poppies had already been placed
on individual war graves. Before you left,
I pinned one onto your lapel, crimped petals,
spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade
of yellow bias binding around your blazer….”
(Full poem unable to be reproduced due to copyright restrictions)
VOCABULARY
Armistice Sunday - Armistice day, often called Remembrance day, is the 11th
November. It marks the day that the armistice (an agreement of warring parties to
stop fighting) was signed between Germany and the Allied forces in the First
World War.
Lapel - the part of a jacket or coat that is folded back on itself at the front,
beneath the collar.
Crimped - folded into ridges.
Spasms - contractions of muscles or bursts of pain.
Blockade - sealing off a place to stop the seam from running
Yellow bias - a bias is a strip of fabric that is used to cover a raw seam or hem,
bias cutting in dressmaking and tailoring also means to use fabric that has been
cut at a diagonal to its pattern - in this case, there is a ‘blockade of yellow bias
binding’ around the son’s ‘blazer’, meaning it has a yellow edged border to the
dark colour of the jacket. The poppy is said to disrupt the smooth line of yellow
that runs round the edge of the blazer.
Gelled - the description of hair once gel has been applied.
Blackthorns - sharp black thorny spikes, also relating to the blackthorn tree -
which has branches covered in thorns and produces sloe berries, possibly a
symbol of protection and hope.
, Intoxicated - drunk or under the influence of drugs.
Tucks, darts, pleats - types of folds used in dressmaking.
Reinforcements - in this case something that strengthens the son’s winter
clothing - a scarf that helps to protect him from the cold. However, the word is
also a military term referring to extra troops that are called in as back up in a war
to help the original deployment of soldiers - perhaps, here the son has been
called to war as a reinforcement.
Inscriptions - written notes or words.
Wishbone - a bone found in chickens that has two curved shapes joined with a
tapered point, typically two parties pull the bone and the one who ends up with
the larger section of the bone makes a wish.
Ornamental - an ornament or decoration, serving no practical purpose.
Stitch - a loop of thread used as a basic element of sewing.
STORY/SUMMARY
(Stanza 1) Three days before Remembrance Day, and poppies had already been
placed on the individual war graves in the graveyard. Before you left, I pinned one of
these poppies onto the front of your blazer, it was made of crimped petals, spasms
of red paper that disrupted the yellow edge of your blazer.
(Stanza 2) I bandaged sellotape around my hand, I pulled up as many cat hairs as I
could from your shirt, smoothed down its upturned collar, made the soft
expressions of my face harder and less emotional. I wanted to rub the tip of your
nose with my nose, to play at being Eskimos like we did when you were little. I
resisted the desire to run my fingers through your gelled, spiky hair. When I tried to
speak, all my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt (Stanza 3) slowly melting. I was
brave, as I walked with you, to the front door, threw it open, the world overflowing
like a treasure chest. A split second later, you had rushed out into the world,
intoxicated. After you’d gone I went into your bedroom, released a songbird from its
cage. Later a single dove flew from the pear tree, and this is where it has led me,
walking around the walls of the church yard, my stomach feeling stressed and
nervous - making tuck, dart, and pleating shapes - I have no hat, no winter coat and
no reinforcements of scarf or gloves.
