Mikaela Castledine #117 Of Makers and Machines

With thanks to Robert Verdon's Forgotten Mid-Afternoon Dream While Sick in Bed

Once I dreamt of a bag you made me

while I was awake and feverish

I put my hand upon the edge and in that second

felt the bite of a sewing machine

treadle across my fingers

with a motor’s satisfying purr

knowing the punctures were even and deep

knowing the threads were binding

there was no pain or blood

but I could feel

the fitness of the stitches tug

The part of me that I had let

float up above the tossing sheets

was more surprised than

worried at this basting

and understood

that in my quilty state

much more than just my seams

would need unpicking