Why Do I Wear Red Suspenders? Poem by Fred Babbin

My red suspenders –
Red—
Not the scarlet red
of the used-up, spent blood
of the veins,
but crimson—
the bright-red oxygen saturated
arterial liquid of life.-
That link to consciousness
and stimulant of existence.

As blood supports my life,
those braces, those garters,
those hangers, those supporters,
those suspensories,
those Red Suspenders—
help cover my nakedness
as the God-made garment covered Adam.

And so the mundane, the ridiculous,
becomes profound.