A StITCH IN TIME

Quilting is something of
a lost art-
except on days like this
when scraps of unlike things
cleave together against all odds

Alvida Earls knew enough, years ago
to steal fragments of patchworked days
and hide them under her various beds
in Mobile

Now, decades later
anxious years long gone, she hums
and stitches hoarded scraps together
to ward off useless conversation

Prissy people come from all over
to bother her with talk of folk art
and quilts that cover walls
instead of people

She smiles, does not try to speak
and favors her good eye-
the brown one

-- Marian SkottMyhre