The surgeon’s hands
And her hands
Knitting, darning, mending
The world –
Frayed tendons
Like stray thoughts
Re-raveled.
Listening to
The slow oxygen
Of a spinning wheel,
Wool
Spooling anesthetic its
Soft
Breathing.
Click your needles
Three times
And return her to
Scarves and sutures
Shawl cross stitches,
Gut tied in knots
But not wrenched.
Speechless. Reality, my friend?
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Thanks so much. It was actually a horrible slog to write this. Not because it wasn’t compelling, but because I seemed only to come up with one trope after another.
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Oh, yeah. Yes, Last Thursday. Actual RW.
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Glad to know! I had that same one in February. Fully able to punch and jab in no time.
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Oh, my God! I’m so sorry, and hope recovery is quick. Please forgive my stupid remark.
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No no! She’s fine. Just her hand.
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Huge sigh of relief. What happened?
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Her tendons needed to be fixed also her trigger finger. She is a huge knitter and spinner, so tried to bring that into the poem.
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It works… I just needed to know the context.
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Yes, that was the most difficult question in the poem for me. How much context to imply vs declare.
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I’ve been struggling a lot with this one. You can’t imagine how much crap I’ve written.
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I can. I specialize in crap.
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We should have a throw down challenge as to the absolutely most embarrassing early drafts.
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Lots of fine imagery and parallelism in this poem. I hope your wife’s surgery is productive. I had a trapped ulnar nerver that required some surgery, but it was orthoscopic.
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Thanks! Should be OK, she is recovering. Hopefully the parallelism worked without either being too obvious or too opaque. I struggled a great deal with this one.
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Hope it’s a speedy recovery. I particularly liked ‘mending/the world’.
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May she have a swift recovery.
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Thank you!
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I loved the connection you made between the hands of the surgeon and your wife.
Very endearing — click needles three times to return her home — perhaps over the rainbow and straight into your arms. 🙂 Will you read this lovely poem to her?
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Ah, thank you. She loved it.
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This one spoke to me vividly since I’m a knitter too. The analogy is powerful. Great work!
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Thank you!
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