Threaded. (at the end)
Article by Sherai O’Riley Art by Kristopher Ligtenberg
There be a reason it’s called the fabric of the universe
‘Tis made of threads
Threads that come together in spirals. Helixes. Double helixes.
Solar systems.
If we spin around the sun then what does the sun spin around?
Maybe ‘tis dancing with a black hole.
The thing about threads is that they don’t make themselves useful.
They need a calculated hand and a loving architect.
To be created
To be nurtured
To be used protected and reborn.
Just like us
Nothing was born from nothing.
Sure,
Sometimes things come together from distant galaxies and explode into volcanic mushrooms.
Other times apes are great.
Regardless, these rebirths simply illustrate the indisputable fact that
If you accept the existence of a finite thing
Like a circle
Or a sphere
You accept the existence of an infinity.
Like your mom.
Or a T-shirt.
They exist only by virtue of one another.
(Your mom IS a T-Shirt!!!)
What a beautiful thing it is.
To be a loose thread.
And what’s the greatest honor a thread might ever receive?
To be part of a rope!
And what do ropes do?
I’ll let you guess…
Times up. They hoist the sails!
Threaded sails, fresh out of their awkward adolescent threadhood years,
Need to be allowed the space to grow into their skin so they can be threaded and unthreaded.
Ropes return back to threads.
Planets return back to rocks.
Magic moment when you get to be the weaver.
You beaver.
To have agency!
And be a garment of value!
Worthy of a patch.
A wash.
A caress.
There’s much cleaned by the washing machine of gratitude.
Like a whispering serpent smashed by an elephant foot.
Too often we believe we are supposed to want things because we’ve been told that someone else knows what we are supposed to do.
Nobody knows!
Stop wanting more than your gut tells you you need,
Listen to it,
The churning ocean gut.
It knows.
Because it's inspired by the divine rhythm of your breath.
Chump.
The other day someone said to me, “if you have something,
Then by definition you do not want it.”
WHAT?!?!?!
Rebuttal:
If you want things then you do not have them.
Why does it matter if you love them? You ask?
Well because then you will never want!
The labor of love is something a good parent knows well.
“Waste not Want not.” - wise lady.
I often forget that I have stuff because I love the stuff I have,
Which means,
That I am always pleasantly surprised!
With a burning passion, I desperately crave the clothes that are already on my body.
Threaded.
-Sherai O’Riley