{"id":132,"date":"2025-10-23T23:28:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T23:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/?page_id=132"},"modified":"2025-11-07T22:45:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T22:45:34","slug":"the-feel-of-that-paisley-jacket","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/poetry\/the-feel-of-that-paisley-jacket\/","title":{"rendered":"The Feel of That Paisley Jacket"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert McDonald<\/span><\/p>\n

Wendy tagged me in a photo on her Facebook Feed: New Year\u2019s Eve,<\/span><\/p>\n

early 90\u2019s, a picture I\u2019d never seen of myself, dancing.<\/span><\/p>\n

I almost couldn\u2019t believe<\/span><\/p>\n

how handsome<\/span><\/p>\n

I had been in my golden<\/span><\/p>\n

thrift-store paisley<\/span><\/p>\n

jacket. How would<\/span> my life<\/span><\/p>\n

have been different, if I had,<\/span><\/p>\n

in those days, walked through the world with<\/span><\/p>\n

the confidence and ease<\/span><\/p>\n

of a beautiful person who knew himself<\/span><\/p>\n

to be beautiful?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I remember the feel of that paisley jacket, smooth at my wrists, just right<\/span><\/p>\n

on my shoulders, I remember Wendy\u2019s yearly<\/span><\/p>\n

parties<\/span><\/p>\n

in a Chicago apartment above<\/span><\/p>\n

Pop\u2019s for Champagne.<\/span><\/p>\n

My goofy drunk friends danced<\/span><\/p>\n

around me, a posse<\/span><\/p>\n

of laugher and loneliness<\/span><\/p>\n

and sweat. I didn\u2019t look<\/span><\/p>\n

in the mirror<\/span><\/p>\n

and see a heartbreakingly handsome man.<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know anyone who<\/span><\/p>\n

would want<\/span><\/p>\n

to kiss me<\/span><\/p>\n

at midnight. My youth,<\/span><\/p>\n

and the youth and beauty<\/span><\/p>\n

of everyone<\/span><\/p>\n

dancing<\/span><\/p>\n

around me?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I suppose I was aware of it, the way<\/span><\/p>\n

you might know<\/span><\/p>\n

that someone\u2019s blown out<\/span><\/p>\n

that row<\/span><\/p>\n

of teacup<\/span><\/p>\n

candles<\/span><\/p>\n

on the mantlepiece<\/span><\/p>\n

just before you entered the now<\/span><\/p>\n

empty room.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nRobert McDonald Wendy tagged me in a photo on her Facebook Feed: New Year\u2019s Eve, early 90\u2019s, a picture I\u2019d…\n<\/div>\n
Continue reading “The Feel of That Paisley Jacket”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"parent":322,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-132","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132\/revisions\/208"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}