a break between lines
Sometimes, on Fridays, when I am really stuck with a line or image or verb, I turn to my first mentor and hero, Karen Kovacik. After reading a few of her poems, I always am relaxed enough, inspired enough to move forward with work. So today, since it is Friday, and I am in between lines and need a break, I thought I would post one of my favorite of her poems. It’s from her book Beyond the Velvet Curtain.
During the Sorties over Baghdad
A woman works with lace panels.
Under and under again: that is the beauty
of French seams. First to flatten with steam
back and forth back and forth.
Then to stitch the unwavering rows
the perfect parallels, all measures metric
all precise. To pinpoint the trajectory
to plant the staccato thread under and under.
This is the music of a thousand nights:
curtains scattered with trellises and roses
scalloped along the valance and edges.
Curtains fit for a window without flaw:
eight glass polygons, caulked, soldered
fringed with the January frost, overlooking
a city that has never been bombed.
Cleveland, Ohio, 1991
