sennit straw · 57 · summer · worn 1908
a flat round disc of plaited straw, the crown squared off, a navy
grosgrain wrapped tight at the base. a hat for the river and the
bandstand, for shirtsleeves and a borrowed boat.
the small dent in the crown is at the rear-left, where it was set down
a thousand times beside the same glass on the same Sunday table.
summer was its whole life. by August the band would smell of warm varnish and the brim would have a tiny tide of fingerprints along its underside.
field-note: a programme from a regatta folded into the lining. the date is worn through.