Post 9/11

The days after tragedy blur.

The prevailing wisdom was:
New Yorkers took to gathering
after 9/11.

Yarn shops blossomed.
New knitters signed up for classes.
Old knitters formed circles.

Wholeness, healing, holiness
always chain together in my mind.

For centuries people have
deemed cloth holy.

Jews wear a Tallit,
a prayer shawl.

In my childhood women clutched
scapulars or holy cloth relics
during child birth

Doesn't it make sense
that we of the 21st century
would gather to create
new fabric?

Knit our lives back together.

Years later
I can't recall
what I was knitting in
September 2001.

A very strange occurrence indeed...

On the other hand
I can recall each of the
personal accounts
of 9/11 written by
Pat, Nancy, Agnes, Susan,
Steph (my writing group-
The Porch Ladies.)

Agnes was in "The City."
She couldn't leave until way
after dark. On the way north
she and Bob watched the National Guard
trekking their way to ground zero.
They longed to be home, to be safe,
Arriving home after midnight
they found access to their lane
blocked by a checkpoint. All
sense of safety was forfeited.
Living on the route to the
Ashokan Reservoir--New York
City's water supply-- they
would barred easy access to home
for years to come.

Susan wrote about sending
Hannah, a little girl, at the time
off to school with her library book.

On and on the stories go
welded to my memory.

Today I will rewind
scraps of yarn, sort
leftovers, retag usable
skeins and once again
mend the rent made by
9/11.