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Bundles
Amor, amor
Love offered me a cloth so fine and rich,
with folds so ample, I could not refuse
but sewed myself a habit, stitch by stitch.
I find the garment shrinks with daily use:
its generous measures pucker and draw tight,
I suffocate where once I’d room to spare;
I stretch and strain to free myself, I fight,
yet still the precious fabric will not tear.
Come, show me one who wants to cut these ties –
these homespun tapes we fashion for our lives
to bind ourselves to husbands or to wives –
and I will show you one who’s spinning lies.
Each wears the cloth he wove, though I confess
I wonder if mine’s shroud or wedding dress.
Saison Poetry Library magazine collection: audio recording
This poem won first prize in the Torriano Poetry Competition, 2007, judged by Katherine Gallagher and June English. It was subsequently published in “Brittle Star” magazine No 19.
From the Torriano competition Judges’ Report:
The winning poem "Amor Amor" (after Garcilaso de la Vega) by Gwyneth Box is a sonnet, in which mood, meaning and form are stitched feelingly together. The octave begins with the words, "Love offered me a cloth so fine and rich", which immediately pins the abstract of the opening word "Love" to a concrete image: "a cloth so fine and rich" and this, within the space of another line, is sewed into a habit. A word that suggests both the ideals, the sacredness of marriage and the boring routine of a garment that shrinks with daily use. until gradually, tightly corseted within the confines of the rhymes, the picture of a suffocating marriage is both lived and revealed. This, as the sestet reveals, is not a poem of hope or change, but a believable and very human portrayal of loyalty and hard-won acceptance…
About Gwyneth
I am a poet, translator and copywriter, specialising in travel, memoir, commercial and technical texts. I also offer creative-writing workshops, self-paced video courses, and one-to-one mentoring. Find out more about me here.