Don't ask how I got the idea. Who would write about a snot rag?
But the idea came into my mind, and on my mind it did nag.
A handkerchief: a piece of cloth used to wipe hands or brow on nose.
Why would I write about something into which a guy might blow his nose?
I don't know why "handkerchief" came to mind while, for a title, I did search.
I suppose even stranger ideas, for a title, from my mind could lurch.
And I never meant to speak of its use, or appearance, or from where the first one came.
Instead I thought I'd write my thoughts about "handkerchief", the name.
So as I lay here wondering what to write...., how to explain the name, .... a thought that I shall share with you...., into my mind came.
Hand-ker-chief, Handker-chief, Hand-kerchief. There! I had it!
A "kerchief" is a scarf-type thing a woman might wear over her hair.
In some places and in some earlier times they are/were common..., but today, I might stare.....
if I saw a kerchief on a head. "What's she trying to hide? ", I might wonder.
A bald head, a bad dye-job, a botched cut? What's she hiding....., "under"?
So perhaps handkerchief comes from "kerchief" and a second word: "hand".
I own a few myself, handkerchiefs, but in my hand one rarely does land.
Mostly they sit in my sock drawer, though one I may carry just in case....,
but it kind of turns me off when a man raises a wrinkled, used hand-kerchief to his face.
(Jan.2013)
Bri Man, this poem is so nice. your words show how your mind is creative. well done
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Interesting subject and interesting presentation! In the very old times, handkerchief was exchanged between lovers as a token of their mutual affection and now you have denigrated it as an ugly thing into which a man blows his nose... yukky! !