OLD HANDS LEARN NEW TRICK
Idle Hands
J.B. Rowell
An empty classroom is the loudest
kind of quiet. Chairs hold their legs
up on tables, waiting for the floors
to be swept. Walls with layers
of fabric and paper framed
by scalloped borders.
Click, clicking in the hush,
wood on wood, I am 33 and learning
how to knit for the first time,
taught by another teacher, taught
by the students I teach.
Learning with them.
Bamboo needles taming thick
rust yarn looping, soothed in therapy
of busy hands, shimmying up
the shaft of the needle toward the point
to drop off.
Too tight in my tense, new efforts,
I loosen to the rhythm of thinking fingers,
it will find you, this meditation,
this practical use for hands.
J.B. Rowell
An empty classroom is the loudest
kind of quiet. Chairs hold their legs
up on tables, waiting for the floors
to be swept. Walls with layers
of fabric and paper framed
by scalloped borders.
Click, clicking in the hush,
wood on wood, I am 33 and learning
how to knit for the first time,
taught by another teacher, taught
by the students I teach.
Learning with them.
Bamboo needles taming thick
rust yarn looping, soothed in therapy
of busy hands, shimmying up
the shaft of the needle toward the point
to drop off.
Too tight in my tense, new efforts,
I loosen to the rhythm of thinking fingers,
it will find you, this meditation,
this practical use for hands.
posted by J.B. Rowell at 8:27 AM
4 Comments:
How fun! Have vague memory of 33 being "old". Maybe we can sit awhile and meditate together with our needles and hook during our next visit. Until then, glad we can share the grounding comfort and peace the rhythm brings. Happy knitting. N
Thanks N - okay 33 isn't "old" but it is pretty late for learning a new skill. :) I look forward to knitting together and learning more from you . . .
Thanks Rae, I'm glad you like it and that it is worth meddling with - feedback is always welcome! Especially when the poem is brand new like this one and I can't see it objectively yet. I agree with everything but have a hard time letting go of "An empty classroom is the loudest kind of quiet" eventhough I know it is telling instead of showing - I wonder if that is the title then? What do you think? I know Irene probably likes it because it is a LONG title. :) The only other change I'm resisting is getting rid of the "practical use" for hands. Do you still get that idea without it? I'll think about that one . . . as always, I have to sleep on changes, to see what the poem looks like in the light of the next day. Thanks again Rae - I really appreciate your time!
Julia
You're right, it is cliche - thanks Rae.
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