The Fabric
we sit at a loom loaded with stained yarn
we never intended to dye these colors
our feet drum out a rhythmic pattern
woven with force, at times soft and gentle
and others wrathful and ashamed
passed down or manufactured it still
makes a tapestry, each fiber a human
every run, a choice leading to the next.
sometimes it is beautiful and mesmerizing
and others it’s chaos, piles of snags
a mountain or molehill we don’t back pedal
to flatten, but trudge on, our feet through mud.
I wish beyond hope the end product showed
greater beauty than our faults, however
piece must be perfect to be considered a
masterpiece
our loom is never finished, constantly weaving
colors run out and textures change but no one
will ever hold it up to the light to look for holes
they just expect you to improve the longer you
weave
2 thoughts on "The Fabric"
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Thank you for this. What a powerful reflecton on the commonalities that easily get pushed aside when folks who have never manufactured make generalizations about one thing being a “real” creation and one being “unskilled” labor. Having worked in operations and manuf-adjacent spaces, I love you pulling out the dynamic of “each fiber a human / every run a choice leading to the next”. It’s so astute, and points out that it’s such an invisiblizing thing when those who work in these settings hear others refer to their work as unskilled labor. I’ve never encountered that there is such a thing as unskilled labor. There’s just labor we pay attention to and labor we don’t. Labor I’m good at and labor I’m not good at.
“they just expect you to improve the longer you weave”. there’s so much to think about here.
Thanks for sharing this piece.
I love this take. Thank you for sharing!