Page 9 - Contrast1980v23n2

Dresden Plates

Quilt pieces are never cut exactly right.
Match blackened needle
Found splinters in littler fingers
Now pierces fringed blue hopscotch blocks
Of leftover woven cotton-
Draws up the scraps until they almost fit.
On this near perfect rectangle,
Which forms a tablecloth, I'll applique
The folksy pie plates of my quilt.

Slices of Mama's curtains and my kindergarten blouse
Form lopsided circles pieced by thread.
Blueberry gingham and pumpkin pies
Each take their turn to step into a square
While I sew them into a place setting without silver.
Sixteen slices per-
Twenty plates in all.

Tarnished thimble bent to Mama's finger
Still too big for mine.
I'll just let that nail
Pierce the fabric of my finger,
Searching vainly for splinters,
As the sharper point
Darts through blue with uneven stitches.
"Slow down," Grandmama would say,
"Y ou needn't hurry so, Margaret Anne never did."
Then, Mama never found time for finishing her quilt,
But she pieced me together
Like I was fine china.

Betsy Malhus

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