Jessea L. Vaughan's "One" is about a man who has lost nearly everything, including the person he loved, in a flood. The opening line, "There used to be two, / But now there's one," comes back at the end with the final reason spelled out: "he lost her." The repetition makes the poem feel like a loop, as if he can't stop returning to that loss.
The main image is his coat. The rags are what remains of his old life, while the patches come from people who stay for a while and then leave. He sees the patches as scars, hates them, and wants to tear them off, yet they are the only thing holding the coat together. That suggests he needs the comfort of other people even though their leaving hurts him.
The mood is bleak and lonely, with short, plain lines that feel bare, like the cold he shivers in. The poem is quiet, but its sadness is heavy.