I want to know how many of us who buy blue jeans have also bought poetry. I mean, if you buy blue jeans, I want to know how much money you have spent on both blue jeans and poetry.

This past year was not a par­tic­u­larly good year for me in terms of blue jeans. Although I would have liked to have had more blue jeans, I only bought one new pair from a dis­count store, and although they fit well, I did not par­tic­u­larly like the fit­ting but had to live with them anyway as my tol­er­ance for trying on clothes and return­ing them is low. My other pair had slowly worn away in the butt area, as so many of my jeans do, my butt ulti­mately being too much butt for the cut of the jeans. Right below each butt cheek, a slow wear­ing away that will even­tu­ally thin enough to reveal skin.

In terms of poetry, how­ever, this year was a par­tic­u­larly good year. I am a tenure-​track pro­fes­sor of lit­er­a­ture and cre­ative writ­ing. This means that I can buy many books related to research or teach­ing and have my pur­chases reim­bursed by my depart­ment. It also means that I can assign poetry books that I would like to read in my classes and request free instructor’s copies, and I do. In terms of poetry, I have spent much money this year.