Could Have

No crochet today. No knitting but poetry. Usually, I am not drawn to poetry at all but since I read Wislawa Szymborska’s Could Have* the other day, I can’t get it out of my mind.

Sometimes it takes only a split second for a life to change and if days weren’t packed the way they are I would (should?) give this some more thought.

It could have happened.
It had to happen.
It happened earlier. Later.
Nearer. Farther off.
It happened, but not to you.
You were saved because you were the first.
You were saved because you were the last.
Alone. With others.
On the right. The left.
Because it was raining. Because of the shade.
Because the day was sunny.

You were in luck — there was a forest.
You were in luck — there were no trees.
You were in luck — a rake, a hook, a beam, a brake,
A jamb, a turn, a quarter-inch, an instant . . .

So you’re here? Still dizzy from
another dodge, close shave, reprieve?
One hole in the net and you slipped through?
I couldn’t be more shocked or
speechless.
Listen,
how your heart pounds inside me.

* taken from „View With a Grain of Sand“ (trans. Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh, New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1996)

A wonderful (willful) weekend to everyone out there.

J’s loop

J wanted a loop. It had to be „a lot of blue and some red,“ it had to be long enough to go twice around his neck, and it had to be made of sock yarn. (Itchy, I know. Not for him though).

Nothing to write home about, if it wasn’t for the picture 🙂

knitting loop

1970s crochet blankets

Back in the 70s, when my sisters and I were kids, my mom would make blankets for us that we would use as bedspreads for years to come.

Looking back, it amazes me how she managed to keep the making of those huge blankets a secret until Christmas.

Lately, all three of them moved in with me. And I am not even sure my sisters know that I became the „keeper of handmade bedspreads“ 🙂

The one with horizontal stripes in yellow, red, beige, and brown belongs to my elder sister. My younger sister was pleased to get the vertically striped one in turquoise, brown, and beige. Ultimately, mine is the checkered one in red, green, brown, and beige.

You can tell they’re old, you can tell they’re used but there is no doubt I will bring them back out again next fall.

crochet blankets

striped croched blanket

striped crochet blanket

checkered crochet blanket

crochet blankets

Did I ever say thank you? Just to make sure: Thank you, Mami 🙂