Odd Socks Options

[Guest_Nina_*]

Odd Socks (revised)

A pair of odd socks
tucked in a drawer:
one blue,
one black flecked with white;
long ill-matched;
hidden in darkness,
never proudly displayed.

I should separate them;
initiate search for their mates.
Yet something stops me -
fear of change?
loneliness worries?
habit?

I’ve grown used to them paired,
so they lie
folded together;
one blue,
one black  flecked with white;
growing old
trapped.


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Odd Socks (original)

A pair of odd socks
tucked in a drawer:
one blue,
one black, flecked with white;
ill-matched for so long;
hiding in darkness
never proudly displayed.

I should separate them;
initiate search for their mate.
Yet something stops me -
fear for change?
thoughts of loneliness?
habit?

I’ve grown used to seeing them paired,
so there they lie
folded together;
one blue,
one black, flecked with white;
gathering dust,
growing old.

[Guest_Nina_*]

Hi James

As usual, I haven’t read any other crits - I shall in a minute. But for me, this has nothing whatsoever to do with socks - yet it does work on that level, if one so desires. For me, this plunges the depth of the sock drawer of life and is very disturbing - because it is so true. Very well done indeed. I can’t honestly say I enjoyed it but it is superb writing - which is why I didn’t enjoy it!
Thank you and you are absolutely right.  The poem has nothing at all to do with socks other than it being the perfect metaphor for two people who are very different, married young and have drifted along ever since, not happy but not making the move to split.  In staying together, they are perhaps missing out on the possibility of being open to finding their "soul mate"  and true happiness.  As you say it is very common.

The other week I was chatting to my neighbour, a very sweet, bubbly lady who is in her 80s.  Her husband, though you would never believe it to see him, is very domineering and controlling.  She has to wait till he has gone to bed before she can soak her aching feet in the bath.  She doesn't dare turn the tv on and he controls so many other little things. Yet they have been together for well over 50 years and she would never leave him.  She said that if she had her life again, she would never get married.

Thanks for the suggestions which I will consider and especially thanks for seeing so clearly.

Nina