<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><h1 align="left" style="margin: 0in; break-after: avoid;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="4">Stitching </font></span></h1><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4"> </font></p><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">I’m threading my needle with light, strands from stars</font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">and the moon, from candles on altars, the tremulous auras</font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">of leaves, zinnia haloes, the luminous veins of crystals</font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">the phosphorescent luster of the sea</font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">the rippling gleams of shady creeks </font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4"> </font></p><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">I need all the light I can get because I’m stitching </font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">together the dark, heinous acts of this age </font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">It’s a ritual if you will, a gesture of forgiveness</font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">a prayer to balance the dark and the light </font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">by merging the Milky Way seen from the Sonora desert </font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">on a moonless night with the blazing web of city </font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">seen from the cabin of a midnight jet approaching Chicago </font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4"> </font></p><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">To embroider the border I’ll use filaments of light </font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">gathered from hungry eyes, eyes shining with questions</font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">shining from sockets framed in feathers or fur or skin</font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">shining witness to human disdain even for life that begins </font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">when sperm meets egg and ends in clean white bone</font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">eyes shining hope, shining fierce and gentle innocence</font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4"> </font></p><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">Every night I sew, each stitch a spark or a star</font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">and when dawn lays its white hand on the dusky limbs </font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">outside my window, I rise and set my work aside</font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4">It’s time to greet the birds</font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="4"> - Cynthia Poten</font></div></div></body></html>