Yarn 
  
  
 Grandma Marie is a founding member
 of the Knit-Wits. They turn out hats, sweaters,
 scarves, and socks. They turn up for canapes
 and cocktails, a little discreet dishing
 of those not there, complete with embroidery
 but just around the edges, building up 
 the local gossip row by row. Here’s the thing:
 we learn from each other how to make it new.
  
 In storytelling, too, there needs to be
 a looping back, complications that only
 appear to be tangles. Details are key;
 so are color and contrast. Without some
 holes, there is nowhere for the attention
 to catch hold. But, ladies, let’s remember—
 vary that pattern but don’t make it up 
 out of whole cloth or improbably sticky yarn.
  
  
 Leslie Schultz