49. The Sky Around You

the sky near you

it comes down onto your head
the sky (surrounds you)

your knots hold it in place

the knitting of knots
as a practice of dexterity

as the demonstration of self

providing the earth
with demonstrable evidence
of what it needs

your teeth in it
and your nails

to hold on
to keep it all in place

making as the only secure
form of being

maybe a little pinch pot
such that it might sit
on three little nubbins
pinched out of it

or some time in a room
made of wood and wooden things
fire burned hard
to get that color out of the clay

no little clayhead doll
so only our heads might crack

on impact

we can use the pieces
for something though the blood
on them and the little bits of brain
might slow us
a little

the process of making
is unmaking

disorder precedes us
we proceed from you

wool and first the skirting

burr and feces from the fur
pulling in the heat the bits out
of the thicknesses of fleece

carding wool
so the fibers align
everything in a row
the way a herd
might point in
the same direction

spinning out of
the patterns put in place

you make a skein
of wool a wound string you could
make into something

and the knitting

every little bit of this process
a set of steps to apportion
order

in its various forms

the simplification of living
into a set of set patterns
a few sequences of
the knitting needles

enough order
and someone
can be kept warm

though you can make only
small numbers

you will make plenty
enough to keep a foot warm

and you can feel how
the sky nears you

how it turns around your head