It’s a bad sign when I start to knit or crochet
compulsively.
In the weeks before the presidential election
I picked up my crochet hook
for the first time in four years
and proceeded to make
one elephant
three pairs of socks
one market bag
two potholders
one manta ray
one skirt and matching headband
two adult-sized scarves
one toddler scarf and mittens
one doll outfit
and one stuffed owl
(that the dog promptly destroyed)
all in about three weeks.
I was a crocheting machine.
I couldn’t stop myself. Every time
we watched the Daily Show
or the actual news
or even read blogs
talking about the news
I picked up my hook
because there was absolutely nothing
I could do
to affect what was happening
on a national scale.
In the face of that
yarn and hook were small and concrete
and controlled.
And now it’s happening again.
America has a new president
but Sri Lanka, my homeland
roils in what may be the last death throes
of a twenty-plus-year civil war
with hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians
trapped in the jungle
caught in the cross-fire.
Relief workers denied entry
government shelling of ‘safe zones’
shaky videos of children
crying as they climb in and out of holes
trying to escape the mortar shells
and
it is too much.
I pick up needles this time
I am learning to knit
I make a sweater, a scarf, a hat.
I knit until my shoulders are tight
until my hands ache
and Kevin takes away the needles for the night.
Perhaps I will take up spinning next
or dyeing
or we will move to the Andes
and start an alpaca farm.
We can live among the alpacas
slow, gentle creatures
harvesting their wool
without harming a soul.
If I start with the alpacas
I can control the process
from beginning to end.
*****