February 11, 2020

it’s not like the world needed another bag *

And yet there she was, tucked into her favorite chair, making a thing
from scratch. I imagine her, a cup of steaming chamomile to her right,
nubby slippers on, a bright and easy joy on her lips, a radiator
humming companionably behind her. But maybe I have it all wrong.
There were already so many to choose from, thick columns of them 
rustling like cornstalks at the foot of every checkout aisle across America.
She had to barricade herself from that fluorescent jungle. She had to yield
to another, quieter call, her hands faintly stirring at her sides. What does it take 
to outstrip the army aiming its sights on your surrender, your silence?
Everything you have.

* I borrowed this line from a Facebook post by my friend Aimee Dolich, who has recently crocheted this reusable grocery tote.