Wishing all friends across the Pond a happy holiday!

WHITE SHIRTS

With white shirts, he said
the pain is that stains proclaim
your ineptitude
in a competitive world
blighting self-esteem

Dripped cappuccino
spinach, lentil soup, red wine
are markers of taste
and habitude and hunger
A neat paradox

But the choice is smart
even after Labor Day
I said. Obama's
an iconic trendsetter
It comes from the top

They suit you, I said
You wear pristine honesty
on your sleeve, or front
You strive against the tide for
the immaculate

That's Hope triumphant
You're no whited sepulchre
sporting a dark shirt
You wish the Cloths of Heaven
and Resurrection

from THE TWAIN, Poems of Earth and Ether