Make & Write

 

Thrift Store Threads

Photo by Amy LV

A Bit of (Dropcloth Sampler) Stitching

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Lately I have been working on my stitching, and this is a very enriching and betwitching thing to do. Simple strands of wool or cotton or silk become pictures! Stitching can be a very inexpensive hobby, and I did purchase the wools you see here at a thrift store. You can see someone's handwriting on the cards, and I love imagining what this person was making, likely many years before now. I feel connected to this other stitcher from another time...and this, of course, is another idea for another poem.

For today's poem, I started with the words treasure and stitches and using RhymeZone, looked at all of their rhymes and chose the ones I thought would stitch together sensibly. I built the poem from there, word by word, in the same way that bricks build upon each other to make a house.

If you are wondering why the lines move across the page in that funny way, it is because this is how stitching feels, moving your hand and the work across the fabric.

Making things makes us who we are. Close your eyes and think of things you have made in your own life. Perhaps you made something on your own. Maybe you made something together with someone else. Any one of these making stories deserves to be written down if you wish to write it. Try starting by writing a list of things you have made at any time in your life. Choose one idea from your list and just go.

Or...do not start by closing your eyes. Go make something! Then, later, come back and write.

Yesterday, I had the chance to virtually visit the students at Roaring Brook School in Chappaqua, NY, and we talked about this very thing - making. I stitched last night, and now I cannot stop thinking about that part of our chat. Thank you, Roaring Brook Librarian Christine Eidem, PTA parents, teachers, and students, for such a lovely time together. It was fun to meet you from my camper, and you all asked such wise questions.

And a big hello to the writers in Ms. Lewis's and Ms. Miner's Poetry Friday group! I have learned that you visit each week, and so of course this morning I found myself wondering what you will write today. Thank you for stopping by each Friday.

Mary Lee is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at A(Nother) Year of Reading with a poem (inspired by the idea of percentages or percent) that takes us readers along for a beautiful drive through the country. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

I wish everyone a joyful week full of making, discovering, and feeling whole.

xo,

Amy

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