otter & shearling · 60 · winter · worn 1911
heavy in the hand. dark otter on the outside, shearling on the inside,
a leather tie under the chin that has gone smooth. the ear-flaps come
down for cold the city no longer keeps.
the dent in the crown is from the same shelf it has lived on for ninety
winters. one season it kept a head warm across the
long bridge. ever since, it has waited for
that head to return.
worn only in the kind of winter where breath turned to small clouds and the frost drew its own maps on every window.
field-note: a single thumbnail of dried mud on the inside band. country mud, not city.
silk top · fedora · chimney sweep · snow · mud-room