Abstract

The work ‘Wrong Jacket’ sets the poetry of York poet Carole Bromley. The poem captures the moment of realisation that the persona is wearing someone else’s jacket by mistake. This develops into an exploration of items in pockets followed by an imagined life the true owner of the jacket leads.

The setting attempts to capture two distinct emotions which arise from the poem; firstly, the unsettled confusion of an unfamiliar coat followed by a slightly nostalgic fantasy of what a life might have been like as the owner of the coat, in this section there is a clear juxtaposition between romanticism and reality. These two distinct sound worlds eventually merge to a conclusion of unapologetic regret that it is indeed too ‘late to return the coat’.

Wrong Jacket by Carole Bromley

Strange how it felt alien,
the silk lining colder,
wool rough to the touch;

in the pocket a spat-out sweet,
a bus ticket to Middlesbrough,
a blood-stained tissue -

too late to return the coat,
I wasn't even certain
where I'd picket it up.

So I became her, this woman
with the nose bleed,
a dislike for Nuttall's Mintoes

a life supporting Borough,
job in costume jewellery at Binns,
fine Saturdays scrambling

up the scree to reach
the summit
of Roseberry Topping.