PATCHWORK

Katie - A puppet designed, created

and photographed by Rolande Duprey

PATCHWORK

A lifetime can be cobbled

from snippets and clippings

stashed in a sewing basket

 Hodgepodge of bits & pieces,

fragments of fabric

(tiniest scraps of treasures)

remnants culled, collected –

recollections of people, places,

times gone by 

every vestige

meticulously clipped,

saved, salvaged:

Wool snipped from an old uniform

and Sunday-go-to-meeting suit,

strips of gingham, denim, twill

satin patch of wedding dress,

slips of silk from baby’s blanket

mementos of loved ones, 

joys & sorrows,

marriages & miscarriages

Oddments

painstakingly basted into place

(needles and thread,

scissors and seam-rippers)

arranged and re-arranged –

through years, laughter and tears;

tales told and retold,

sorted, stitched,

(many hands and hearts)

gathered, assembled,

embellished – 

entire lifetimes pieced,

mended, quilted together

from treasured remains

This poem was inspired by, and written for, a creative & talented friend of mine. 

Use the link below to swing by her site and see more on quilting & the quilt shown above:

purple rocks and pond water: what-does-this-quilt-tell-me? 

And the poem subsequently inspired a video (linked here):

Video by Rolande Duprey of "Patchwork" by P.S. Cleary