First, you must
feel the weight
of the world.
For a moment, allow yourself
to atlas under the crush of
the heavy weft of regret
nosing above and below
the strained warp
of heartbreak,
over and under,
over and over.
Before the tunnel of midnight
swallows your vision
and the tangle of grief
and wrongdoing ensnares you in
the clotted crush of one hundred
indissoluble thief-knots,
let the venom-nectar
of tarantula medicine spread
on your tongue,
receive this bitterly-needed
sweetness,
picture holy sisters
crocheting a Great Barrier Reef,
imagine a web of gracious creation
woven from utter destruction,
the way fiber
must be scraped against fiber
until surrendering
to the threshing.
Listen to the snap and rip,
let it whisper into winding.
This is the ravel of possibility,
golden thread spun and coiled
in potential.
This is the beginning
of everything.
***
Poem #12 in the Priestess Path Cycle / Kohenet Netivot Sidrah.
***
Inspired by the work of Lois Gaylord and Margaret and Christine Wertheim.
***
With thanks to Rav Kohanot Jill Hammer and Taya Ma for The Hebrew Priestess
***
Photo: “Turkistan – Unwinding thread for the weft.” Photographer Unknown. Knoxville Museum of Art
