(September 24th, 2021)
The button.
Pull absently.
I watch it
b ounc e,
softly. Curse.
P-u-l-l off the dress.
List the emails,
deadlines, unread
stack
of
articles
on my desk. Shout:
“I don’t have time for this!!!”
After a moment:
sit on the e
d
g
e
of a freshly made bed.
Reach over.
Choose teal thread.
It is unlikely anyone will
notice the color
against
the slightly
r n l
w i k ed
linen.
I will know that,
some mornings:
I stop.
Defiantly
stitch
on
a
wooden
button
with
thin
teal
thread.
This poem emerged from a moment when I had a visceral realization of the need to SLOW DOWN in the midst of the pressures and uncertainties of the continued COVID-19 pandemic. As Tanya J. Behrisch asks in her own discussion of cooking as a small act of love and rebellion in these COVID times: “What is worth doing right now?” (2021, p. 668).
References:
Behrisch, T.J. (2021). Cooking a Pot of Beef Stew: Navigating Through Difficult Times through Slow Philosophy. Qualitative Inquiry, 27(6), 667-676.