Sewing Kit For The Seaside

By Paula Llorens Ortega

as a child, she would stitch the waves together. 

thread by thread, like a sail,   looping it twice, 

so it would have someone to retreat with. 

she chased them with springy leaps,

flat feet charred from the burning sand.

she bit off the blisters, numbing the redness with spume. 

damp hem of a dress dragged behind her;

a mother’s dress cut off at the ends

and a grease stain on the ruffled sleeve.

she wore patches of every summer,

linen quilts of umbrellas and singsong birds.

a collection of hearts they were, 

haphazardly strung in worn twine.

shoreside winds billowed in gentle harshness,

with whistles of mirth she returned with a yell.

it echoed far, all the way to the lighthouse:

her needle amidst the rocky thimbles.

By Paula Llorens Ortega