NEEDLETRADES<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Trying to resurrect the true image of my parents, I sought whole cloth
\nto fashion patterns larger than shadows cast by figures bearing offerings
\nof life and words that sheared my heart \u2014 but in truth found only remnants
\nwhich I stitched into a ghost and scarecrow tied with tooth and gut.<\/p>\n
My father was a cutter of piece goods stacked in three-inch layers on
\na table \u2014 my mother sewed the seams on power machines \u2014 this I recall:
\nhis severed fingertip and her nail pierced with stitches, stopping
\nfor ten minutes with a bloody curse and bandages the whine and roar \u2014
\nthe mad attempt to piece together lives destroyed by war.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Needletrades” is reprinted from Cascade: Journal Of The Northwest Poets Association<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Erika Michael is an art historian, painter and poet, born in Vienna, raised\u00a0in New York, and living in the Seattle area since 1966. Her poems have appeared in Poetica Magazine<\/em>, Cascade: Journal Of The Northwest Poets Association<\/em>, Drash: Northwest Mosaic,<\/em> and in Mizmor l\u2019David Anthology<\/em>, Vol. I, The Shoah<\/em>. \u00a0She has a PhD in Art History from the University of Washington and has taught at Trinity University in San Antonio; Oregon State University; and University of Puget Sound. She reads her poetry at various venues around the Northwest.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NEEDLETRADES Trying to resurrect the true image of my parents, I sought whole cloth to fashion patterns larger than shadows cast by figures bearing offerings of life and words that sheared my heart \u2014 but in truth found only … Continue reading