In "Ode to My Socks" the speaker receives a pair of homemade, woolen socks from his friend, Maru Mori. The socks are so gorgeous that they inspire a series of metaphors that compare them to: fish, sharks, birds, cannons, jewel cases—look, just believe us, they're beautiful. In fact, they're so beautiful that the speaker doesn't even want to put them on and ruin them!
At last, though, the speaker finally does put the socks on, and then some shoes, and decides that it's actually the warmth and their usefulness on a cold, winter's day that makes the socks so beautiful and good.