book, candle, sweater from Dar
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How to Write a Book of Poetry
I pull a length of green yarn
out of the skein,
wrap it around the needle
then pull it through
to make a stitch. I'm knitting
a sweater for a 4-H
project that will be judged
at the Lancaster Fair.
I tried being a Girl Scout, well
a Brownie, really,
but it wasn't a good fit for me.
It couldn't hold a candle
to the fun we have in 4-H
where my aunt
and her friend are the leaders
and my cousins
are members, too. There is no
door-to-door selling
in this group. No embarrassing
"No's" from annoyed
customers, just meetings where
we learn to cook
(no-boil chocolate and peanut butter
fudge rolled and sliced.
Yum!), crochet, sew, play games,
laugh, lose, get along,
and, knit like I'm doing, now, in that
past and this present.
My sweater has a cable design
twisting up the middle.
I have to transfer five stitches
to another needle,
continue with the row, then insert
those saved ones
further along to create the braided
design. I hear the others
chatting and chuckling but I concentrate
so I don't make a mistake.
I'd hate to have to unravel my hard work.
The needles click. I weave
one pearl stitch after another,
preparing me for
the poems I'll knit with memories
when I get older.
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