Zachariah Wells
Burlap sacks of shorn wool, pungent
Cushions in the porch on which
To perch and tie a boot, until,
Unstuffed, soaked in the tub, hung up,
Carded into batts, pinched and twisted
On the bobbin to the treadle’s
Metric creaking, wound up in skeins
And clews, strung through heddles
And levered by pedals to let
Pass the shooshing shuttle through
The warp to form a weft—or purled
And knitted into patterns, into
Socks and toques and mittens, scarves
And gloves and sweaters, to the metric
Clicking of the needles as my
Mother counted stitches in a row.
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Zachariah Wells is the editor of Jailbreaks: 99 Canadian Sonnets, and the co-author of Anything
But Hank!, a children’s story; he lives in Vancouver, but not for long.
