If you sew or write or create anything at all, you'll understand this poem about the need to bring something new into the world and the courage it takes to do that.
by Cathrine Reynolds, a poet of Clinton, NY
I learned about sewing from my mother first
and then Nijinsky, Bakst, Ravel, Karinska.
You don’t sew with a needle or thread.
Anyone can do that
though most people will tell you
even reattaching a button is beyond them.
This is a blatant lie
because I have taught three year olds to do this very thing.
No … sewing isn’t only about stabbing something
a thousand times and it isn’t about
not tangling the thread
although it is very discouraging when that happens
even if you are Edith Head or Balenciaga
just snip and go on.
Sewing is about creation.
Ideas cannot be birthed into this world without a medium.
Creation is the will to pull an idea out of your mind
and put it into someone else’s.
People who are afraid of desire say things like
I can’t … Not even …
without taking the time to feel the flush of being
one step closer to making something from nothing
and you will know these people by the button
missing from their coat.
Because sewing is easy for me
after hundreds of costumes, dozens of dresses,
baby clothes by the pile
my great joy is finding a kindred spirit
who stitches their dreams
with words or wood or the vibration of strings.
Even a dream made from eggs and sugar
is as astounding as a perfectly fitted bodice.
But ah, that button on your coat
sewn with the wrong color thread
in a lumpy X between its four holes
will melt my heart
and make you my best friend.