Sharp and lean, she keeps She carries thread that readies itself She travels through hills of chintz, Thimbles delight her with their quaint shape, Quilts are fatiguing. She grows bored At the end of the day, she rests, About the Author
Needle
her own counsel, having learned her nature
is to approach and depart.
for staying, for the knot at the end.
If there is a tangle, a snarled break,
she escapes.
through deserts of taut, hooped cotton.
She is fond of buttons,
their simple ease. And trouser hems.
their kind assistance.
with so much repetition, so much fabric
to get through, a lesson you don’t like
but must finish.
tucked in her cushion. Even then,
keeping her one eye open.
Pam Crow is an award-winning poet who lives in Portland, Oregon. Pam’s work has been published in Green Mountain Review, Carolina Quarterly, Southern Poetry Review, Ploughshares, and other national journals. She is the winner of the Astraea Emerging Lesbian Writers award and the Neil Shepard award for poetry. Her book Inside This House was published by Main Street Rag press in 2008.
