Hand-Me-Downs and Sweat Pants

By Angela Jefferson

Hand-Me-Downs and Sweat Pants is a collection of poetry that looks at specific and general contributions of the family tree and what it leaves. These pieces speak of the substance of the tree which lies beneath the bark. It addresses questions of lineage regarding physical features, the balance of the spiritual assuredness, and the acknowledgement of truths concerning character; regardless of how unflattering those truths may be. Come explore a family tree through one woman's eyes as she drops and swings from her ancestral branches of "Somebody Broke My Greatness", "Uncle Jolly, Uncle Change, Uncle Not Sure What's His Claim", and "A Deep Richness". Carefully climb down to the thick, foundational trunk of the writer's own opinions with "The Power", "Sweat Pants", and "I Didn't Give Up I Just Quit", until effortlessly step onto the rich fertile soil she's leaving for her own descendants with "To Write What's Left", "The Heart of A Mother", and "A Ripple in the Right Direction". Read, enjoy, and be encouraged to examine your roots and discover your own hand-me-downs. Figuratively speaking, these poems will certainly lead to you discovering the comfort of your own sweat pants.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Angela Jefferson
• Release date: Oct 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9780990533917

Book preview

Most people think about clothing when they hear things like hand-me-downs or sweat pants, but let’s not limit our thinking. Clothing could be symbolic of the personality of the individual who first wore the garment or used the item; so an uncle’s jacket could symbolize independence or a mother’s apron a sense of nurturing. When we really think about the concept of hand-me-downs we realize it could serve as another expression for heritage - that which is passed along, passed down, handed down. This would include any and all of the unmistakable traits and characteristics that are lovingly or begrudgingly bestowed to the next generation. They could be a unique physical feature, a genetic condition, an unusual behavioral trait, a remarkable talent or skill. Hand-me-downs also include the ideologies of the importance placed on whom and what is celebrated or revered. Sometimes, because pieces are re-presented with a different set of circumstances or surroundings, the connection is overlooked. These innate and conditioned factors could lie dormant for many years before being revealed. The point is the potential for their emergence exists. It matters not if the pieces are handed down from one generation or from our great, great, greats from another continent. All that matters is their effect on us. Which part of one’s vast past, lineage (or wardrobe) will have the greatest impact? Which discovery of potential will serve as a lifelong inspiration? Which experience will uncover a hidden strength and faith, or will these qualities come as a result of pushing past unattractive garments that represent negative qualities? What will we discover about ourselves as adversity compels us to reach into the back of our closets past any undesired garments; maybe behind cobwebbed scarves of resentment, to find the uncle’s jacket of independence or the mother’s apron of nurturing? Keep in mind that there are many pieces of clothing in our closet that can be worn and that those worn most often are the behaviors that are the most prevalent in our character.

Hand-Me-Downs represent contributions to our closets from our immediate and truly extended family, on the other hand, sweat pants have their own symbolic value. They are significant because they represent personal choices and idiosyncrasies all our own. These articles were not bequeathed, but are our individual habits and creations that are unlike anyone else’s. They have not been pre-shaped or stretched. We are the first to wear them, shape them, and discover contentment with and in them. If we desire to deviate a bit it’s alright since the change is of our choosing. Sweat Pants are self-serving so there is an association with comfort because we ourselves determine the fabric or boundaries which lead to the level of desired conformity concerning our behavior. Any change or growth that comes with making these choices may not be pleasant, however the gradual growth itself is settling to the spirit, since we determine the speed. Unlike the hand-me-downs that have influenced us, sweat pants conform to us. This reflects an inward decision to choose for ourselves what we want throughout our lives all the while hoping that making our own decisions will bring about very few negative repercussions.

The combination of the two aspects serve to create one’s entire personality, the fusion of inherited traits (be they blessings or curses) and one’s own unique behavioral decisions, establish a type of balance. A balance that is not always easy since conflict occurs as personal growth changes viewpoints and emotions. A hand-me-down that may have fit well at one time may become ill-fitting to the extent that we look back and find it hard to believe that anyone in our family, much less ourselves, ever wore them. Bigotry or alcoholism can be long running associations with a family’s lineage where narrow minded malicious and destructive behavior can actually come to be expected. However there can be an eye opening experience or a breaking of a curse where new ideas and truth are now practiced and taught to change what will be handed down. On the other hand, sweat pants can become too small or the elastic may break and new ones must be purchased. A shy introvert becoming an outspoken leader, a height-challenged adolescent having a growth spurt, a carnivore becoming a vegetarian or an atheist becoming a dedicated pastor. It takes longer to get rid of sweat pants (personal change isn’t easy). New attitudes require a different selection from both sides of the closet. It is interesting to wonder about how evident the amount of conflict experienced on the inside from merging the two, will be on the outside. How much of what we figuratively wear affects what we literally wear? The final decision of what will help shape our character is in the individual’s hands and this would explain why siblings who share the same hand-me-downs can be so different. Some even choose not to select from there own closet, but to borrow from someone else’s, trying on new views and attitudes to see if it’s a good fit. All of this plays a part in how we feel, when we choose to feel, and how we say what we care to say.

A different me, a different you

A different point, a different view

And it all makes as much sense as

A mosaic pattern

A patchwork quilt

unsewn…just the pieces

So many pieces

And which particular skin

We will feel comfortable in.

Hand-Me-Downs

At times it’s just a brother’s outgrown

jacket -a secondhand thing

At other times you don’t know how

many hands