Week 5

Cowboy Hat

A Texas Ranger style cowboy hat made of beaver felt the color of sandstone. The felt is spotted with dirt and sweat; it’s been well worn and has a story to tell. When you first see the hat you imagine a bull rider thrown into the dirt, his hat tumbling to a stop on its side nearby. You can see the rider cautiously standing up watching for the furious bull blazing and kicking around the pen. The rider limps over to his hat, bends low, grabs the brim and slaps the hat on his thigh a few times to get the dust out. He sets it atop his head then pushes it down for a tight fit.
The hat is seven inches tall at the crown sloping to four inches high at the brow. There is a deep spoon shaped crevice running from back to front that looks like the mouth from a Scream mask, its called a Gust Crease. It is pinched on both sides at the temples, and slightly back, to form the crease. The brim is four inches wide with a slow curve, not severe like a dandy wears for play. The edged show a slight waviness. This hat has a purpose. This hat is made for working. There is a hat band at the base of the brim made of quarter inch round woven black and red nylon shoe strings. It is a lanyard weave so that the black and red stay in their own lanes, creating four stripes. The ends of the lanyard are tied in a simple knot and frayed for an inch beyond the knot. The band is held together by a simple wrap of braided black shoestring where the two ends meet and cross. The wrap has been melted on the inside facing section for a permanent weld. There is an old matchstick stuck through a red segment of the hat band. The matchstick, like the hat, is dirty and worn, it would not light. It is a talisman or a memory stick. There is tiny black ink writing on three sides of the wooden matchstick; Nirvana, 1967-1994, Curt Cobain.
There is a dark brown leather brow band inside the hat and a satin lining in the crown. The lining started out the same color as the hat but is now sweat stained gold. The lining is rumpled, crinkled and lived in. There is a stamp on the lining where it sits atop the head; a silver paint pony forever running, “Wrangler Hats” below the pony and an oval rope border to create a frame. There is a bow at the back of the brow band. Its dirty, one of the loops is bent down on itself, the ends are frayed, and it is used to the position of the owners head. If you put the hat over your nose you can smell sweat, hair, skin oils and dirt.

Reliable- dependable in achievement


Head Beaver
Water Slide
Butte
Cowboys rain gear
Memory keeper
Nap shade
Emergency rope storage
Felt sweat keeper
Temperament signal
Barometer
Pressure indicator
Weary traveler
Horses travel feedbag
Cool splash on a hot day
Original multitool
Fly swatter
Portable fan
Emergency match storage
Dreaming hat
Time machine
Mans hope chest
Thinking gear
Sun block
Horse motivator
Boomerang
Obtuse
Canyon
Calling card
Heart shade
Compass
Roadkill
Security
White flag

I picked the hat because it seemed to have much to say. And then I stared at it for a mental eternity with no words to write. My best metaphor was a Butte, it pleased me greatly. It seems to make so much sense when looking back to the example from class and maybe I just picked something harder than a carnation but this was hard! I can see what great practice this exercise is for a poet. However, I feel like I never even left the gate. My work here felt really inadequate.