Wovenwhole

in the beginning
there was light:
the lightness of laughter,
the lightness of femininity,
the lightness of self-assurance.
she was fiercely delicate,
this one,
fluent in the strength of vulnerability.

eventually her sure and tender feet
encountered the straight and narrow,
a path lined with directional signs
and dire warnings,
a path with unwavering rules,
a path that blistered unprotected souls.

then came the day when she
stopped –
she just stopped,
i tell you.
picked up the fabrics of her life,
and ripped them to find the straight grain.

she wove
then stitched
the strips together,
the up/down
in/out
over/under
eventually blurring the lines,
fraying the edges,
unraveling things just enough
to form
a whole cloth,
a blank slate
a stout, staunch cloth
on which to write
the rest of her life.