The Red Sweater

The poem begins by stitching the title, “The Red Sweater” to the first line of the poem, “slides down into my body, soft” (Line 1). The title is required for the line to make sense. The move is the first reinforcement of the sweater’s complexity and its centrality to the poem.

There is a sweetness to the poem’s emotional tenor at this point. It appears in the passive construction of the opening phrase “slides down into my body” (Line 1). The speaker does not put on the garment, it slides on him. The choice may conjure early memories of being dressed by a parent—a child stretches out their arms, the parent slips on a garment and gently tugs it down. The image evokes feelings of being cared for. It is like the texture of the sweater itself: “soft / lambs wool” (Lines 1-2).

The word choice of “into” rather than “onto” in the first line, “slides down into my body” shows the sweater is simultaneously a concrete detail and something more than a simple piece of clothing. The sweater is a need, a comfort, and it is something that becomes a part of him.

The second section of the first full sentence (Lines 1-5) says the sweater is “what everybody / is wearing” (Lines 2-3).