Hand Knitting
The sadder my mother became
(what she called blue phases)
the more sweaters we got.
As she worked through her depression
with a knit one, purl one, rock-rock beat
they began to pile up.
Though she is now decades gone
and they were knit
to fit a teen
I’ve kept one,
to remind myself
how accomplished she’d become.
Which has nothing to do
with sweaters and yarn.
But how many lives she saved
with simple things:
just two strong hands,
and sticks and string.
Michael Maul resides in Bradenton, Florida near Sarasota Bay. In recent years his poems have appeared in numerous literary publications and anthologies, both in and outside the U.S. He is also a past winner of the Mercantile Library Prize for Fiction, and has participated in a live readings series sponsored by Bookstore 1, which presents work by the best of Sarasota poets.
Michael is a graduate of the Ohio University creative writing program, where he earned both Bachelors and Masters degrees. He later taught creative writing as a fulltime faculty member at The Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio.
