How to Wrap a Great Kilt
You say you want to wear a kilt
of brightly woven tartan wool?
You want to wear the older one
and not the stitched and fancy kind?
You’ll need a length of eight yards long
with just beneath a yard in width.
But if you’re tall, you’ll need more width
of tartan wove to wrap your kilt,
and if you’re wide you’ll need a long
piece, ten yards maybe of the wool
if you’re to wrap the older kind –
this is the more intriguing one.
You’ll need a leather belt, just one,
which must be longer than your width.
You’ll want the thick and buckled kind
as it will be what holds your kilt.
There is no stitching in this wool.
To put it on will not take long.
You lay your belt out flat and long –
a simple task. This is step one.
Now, on the belt you lay the wool
and fold the pleats along its width.
Not all the wool goes in the kilt.
We’ll do the sash-at-shoulder kind.
I beg, if you would be so kind,
just take the end part here that’s long
and lay it up above the kilt.
You see the ease in making one?
Now, lay yourself across the width
and with the belt pull up the wool.
Be sure you haven’t bunched the wool.
Cinch up the belt, and I’ll be kind
to help you straighten out the width.
I’ll tug it so it’s not too long
in this spot or another one,
and see, you’ve draped a fine great kilt!
You had the wool, it took not long to wrap your kilt,
you clever one, with length and width, the classic kind.
8 thoughts on "How to Wrap a Great Kilt"
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Love how the kindness is bundled with the kilt through outthe poem.
It’s almost as if in a world where some would have kindness portrayed as a stigmate of the weak and the woke, wrapping it in tartan wool made it braw again.
“Cinch up the belt, and I’ll be kind
to help you straighten out the width.” and
“you clever one, with length and width, the classic kind.” are some of my favorite lines in this bonny poem.
Thank you so much. I find sestinas serious.ly challenging. LoL
This a unique subject for a poem and I’m here for it! I love the step-by-step delivery. I love it that you collaborate in the quilt making. I love it that you prefer the quilt that isn’t fancy. Only a rough quilt for me! There are so many things I love! I love the diction. I love it that learned something in the making of this
quilt.
Thank you
Aside from the unique subject, I much appreciate the consistent meter that moves me along with ease
THANK YOU so much for noticing. I thought iambic would keep the poem from getting bogged down.
This is such a successful use of form but it doesn’t feel rote at all. I love how you use line and enjambment and shorter lines to break it a little and keep the reading of the piece new: “You lay your belt out flat and long/a simple task. This is step one./
What a wonderful sestina. Love the subject matter. Just delightful.