Blue Sweater

despite its loss twenty years ago i still miss my blue pullover the one i purchased when i was a junior in college and it was a cold damp winter and i wanted and found just the right wool sweater which had no adornments and was a no frills sweater which suited my personality because i rarely wore bright colors or ornate clothes to school or out but selected very plain tailored outfits save for the buttons i affixed to an outer garment 

buttons that reflected my beliefs and those i'd be willing to march for or involve myself in long convoluted dialogue with whoever held opposing views 

often i pinned buttons to the blue wool sweater as if i were a cork board inviting discussion and standing up for the words printed on the button whether it was political or a social ill that needed to be addressed

buttons stayed until new causes or better worded or new campaigns needed space and then i stored the old buttons in a cigar box and in time those buttons found their way onto a cork board which they shared with buttons announcing a myriad of subjects be it planned parenthood or the local church bazaar 

people gave me buttons and my presidential buttons included those i wouldn't vote for but became collectibles which i added to the cork board 

in time one cork board became two and then three and finally four cork boards with each one measuring three feet wide by two feet high and displayed on a wall 

before moving from a condo to an apartment and then to a house i divested myself of all the cork boards and their buttons

the buttons and blue sweater are gone although the sweater lasted for twenty-five years as a reminder to me of greenwich village, long conversations about existentialism, trips to the museum, hot chestnuts in a small brown bag, and as a symbol