Poetry | Thinking Back | Mary Ann Schaefer

Thinking Back listen
Memory can
unravel easily,
just find
one loose
thread, pull
the rip cord,
watch the
sweater
separate
its shape,
first one
arm then
the other,
from V-neck
collar down
to ribbed
waistband
as the torso
unwinds its
labyrinth
pattern of
stitches and
knots into one
continuous
filament
of crinkled
fiber snaking
backward, un-
threading from
the eyehole and
its barbed-hook pull,
then loosing from
the skein, un-
spinning from
the spindle all
measure of worsted
yarn so at last
what remains
began as strands
combed together
in a single
direction,
a moment,

the first time

you can never
forget.