Distressed Jeans by Donal Mahoney

jeans

Distressed Jeans

He doesn’t understand distressed jeans.
Designer jeans with rents and tears
look like the rags he grew up in

wearing other people’s discards.
His mother got his jeans from a charity
and they tore easily when he wore them.

He had to wear those jeans to school
and other kids made fun of him.
Decades later now he remembers

school days and can’t forget them.
Today he helps the poor with the
remnant from his small pension.

Yet he finds it strange the rich
pay to look poor and the poor
look that way for free.

Donal Mahony

Donal Mahoney, nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart prizes, Donal Mahoney has had poetry and fiction published in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Some of his work can be found by clicking here… 

3 Replies to “Distressed Jeans by Donal Mahoney”

  1. I want to respond (belatedly) to this poem but I’m not sure what to say … I’ve had a denim fetish “forever” (to use this phrase) but I didn’t ever wear jeans during my school years (my mother hated blue jeans) … distressed jeans are one particular fashion and I do not ever see women “looking poor” when I see them wearing denim this way (I once discussed the phenomenon with two women in such jeans at my favourite bar and they said the jeans were not cheap — quite the contrary … they were relatively expensive) … but this is not the point of your poem … I get this … I understand that the whole damn thing would strike a person as odd … cheers! DaP

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