My Jeans – 1972
I. As hippies, we repaired our jeans with patches, braid, embroidery floss. A statement: flower power. Decades later came heavy metal, grunge. Tattered and torn, a statement: fuck you. Now, designer distressed, professionally ripped in all the right places, a statement: I’m with it, at any cost.
II. Broken, faded, distressed, frayed. I’m not talking about my heart, dreams, mood, nerves; I’m talking about my jeans. I buy them new, true blue, then break them as they fade over time, rip at the knees, fray at the hems — like my wrinkles, earned by wear and tear, experience. Pride of ownership.
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100 words
RetroFlash
Barbara BucklesArtist, writer, storyteller, spy. Okay, not a spy…I was just going for the rhythm.
I call myself “an inveterate dabbler.” (And my husband calls me “an invertebrate babbler.”) I just love to create one way or another. My latest passion is telling true stories live, on stage. Because it scares the hell out of me.
As a memoirist, I focus on the undercurrents. Drawing from memory, diaries, notes, letters and photographs, I never ever lie, but I do claim creative license when fleshing out actual events in order to enhance the literary quality, i.e., what I might have been wearing, what might have been on the table, what season it might have been. By virtue of its genre, memoir also adds a patina of introspection and insight that most probably did not exist in real time.
Characterizations:
funny, well written
You describe your jeans in such poetic terms, Barb, using the metaphor of your heart in a beautiful way. And then, the well-worn lines on your face to the creases in your jeans. The blue jean represents much more to you than the simple fashion statement and you convey it all in 100 words. Well done.
Thanks, Betsy … I appreciate your insight.
Love this, Barb. Perfect example of RetroFlash with great description. Poetic and poignant.
Thank you, Laurie!
Another brilliant RetroFlash, Barb. I am so in awe of those of you who have figured out this format and used it so effectively. And your analogy (or is it a simile?) to wrinkles is brilliant. Sad, but brilliant.
Thanks so much, John! I’m hoping you’ll give RetroFlash a try one of these days…I have a feeling you’d really enjoy the process.
Love this, Barb, because it so succinctly adds a serious dimension to this prompt while being so observant. We do earn our wrinkles, bulges, and sags, and they are something to be proud of.
Cheers to that, Mare!
I get it Bebe, but when I last checked, the more the rips in those designer jeans, the bigger the price tag!
Of course now we’re all hanging around the house and raiding the fridge in swear pants – soooo uncool!
LOL…maybe torn sweat pants will be the next trend. (Let’s hope not!)
Hope not, after this crisis is over I’m burning all my sweat pants!
Beautiful, Barb! You are so good at packing an enormous amount into 100 words. I love your descriptions of hippie jeans then, and the ones you wear now, broken in by wear and tear and experience. Perfect picture too!
Thanks, Suzy…and I’m glad you like the photo, and there’s another story behind it I’ll have to share one of these days!
Love your clear distinction between torn jeans as a fad and torn jeans as an outcome. Age has such beautiful authenticity.
Absolutely, and thank you, Charles!
Are you sure you’re not talking metaphorically about your heart, your dreams, your. nerves? “Methinks the Lady doth protest too much.”
Extra points for finding a literary justification for including the phrase “fuck you” in a submission.
What wrinkles?
LOL…laugh lines, frown lines, and everything in between.