firstpoems 2006 Poem index Home

Poetry - 2006

a reading for Antoinette Said by Lloyd Godman

Pins and Needles

Washed with an archetypal emulsion, a blue print from generations before
- Grandmother, mother, daughter, the child not yet conceived –
the threads of blood fasten
lay a plan that conforms - regiments the next generation
continues a culture,
a pattern to weave the finest Maltese lace -
one elusive thread linked to another and another

as a symmetry of fine threads hold this crafted lace together
the delicate tracts of thought, memory of experience, upbringing embedded in the
brain construct a gendered cultural identity of who we are.
Pull the corset cord tighter with all the power you have -
so the pain bites - wells inside -
binds hardened blue against the pink within and leaves a white tracery against the skin forever.

© Lloyd Godman