Threads by Larry Schug - Your Daily Poem

Threads
by
Larry Schug

She saves her hair in a grocery sack—

silken, silver strands,

that once hung to her waist,

coming out now in clumps

with each combing.

She's saving every thread until spring;

she'll scatter it in her yard

for jenny wrens and fat robins

to weave the fibers into nests,

for squirrels and little brown field mice

to pad the beds of spring litters.

Her daughter crochets cotton and wool

into caps of bright colors

to cover her mother's cold baldness;

but more than that, she weaves a thread

that binds them to each other,

weaves them both deeper

into the fabric of life.

© by Larry Schug.
Used with the author's permission.

Larry Schug is retired after a working life of many different kinds of physical labor. He volunteers as a writing tutor at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University. He's also learning to play the guitar and is branching into creating music to go along with his words. Larry has published eight books of poems and has mostly decided on what to include in a ninth collection, tentatively titled Ripples and Reflections. He lives with his wife and cat near a large tamarack bog in St. Wendel Township, Minnesota.

lisa honecker:
Larry, great work taking a small part of someone's end of life and weaving an important poem. My Grandmother made those crocheted caps also.
Posted 05/12/2013 04:07 PM

russtowne:
It inspired a smile of memories past and thoughts of the future. Russ
Posted 05/07/2013 11:02 PM

KevinArnold:
I think 'cold baldness' gives the gentleness of the poem something hard to bounce off of. Well done
Posted 05/07/2013 11:06 AM

Dorcas:
Absolutely beautiful. To think of a legacy of ones very own locks intertwined the makings of birds and other little creatures as they enjoy the fine ropes of a human mother. I love this idea. Speaking of leaving a will.
Posted 05/07/2013 09:37 AM

mimi:
poignant and filled with love.
Posted 05/07/2013 08:43 AM

John:
A well-woven work.
Posted 05/07/2013 08:25 AM

Jo:
Beautiful poem, Larry.
Posted 05/07/2013 07:00 AM

TheSilverOne:
Deeply moving...painfully beautiful, having experienced something similar with a dear friend.
Posted 05/07/2013 06:41 AM

JanetruthMartin:
So touching.
Posted 05/07/2013 06:07 AM

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