Tying Knots
by Mary Clare Leonard


          Mom crocheted,
          _________embroidered, knitted,
          and tried to teach me how

          But my fingers
          _________couldn't dance
          across linen and wool

          My mind didn't get
          _________ tiny stitches,
          pulling flowers out of thread

          In the sixties, I took up macramé,
          needing
          to tie my insides in rough threads

          I added beads to remember, can’t get no…
          ________but it was the strength
          of hemp that helped me

          While stumbling from place to place,
          carrying tangled ivy in planters
          knowing they'd never find a home

          Macramé was handmade, heavy,
          ________like the organic breads nutbutters,
          bricks and boards I thought so cool

          Macramé was something I could do,
          _______something I learned in minutes
          but despite the speed and ease of clumsy knots

          my skill of jute and yarn and beads--
          _______must've been a gift

          something pulled from mom's
          _______delicate hands spinning
          rose after rose on linen and wool





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