I picked up knitting while in London. This summer I’ve been working on a sweater, but I keep messing up my stitches. I’ve restarted the project three times. Annoying, yes, but a necessary learning. As I’ve ripped out the work and started the project again, I’ve been thinking about the idea of what it means to “unravel.”
Specifically, “unravel” implies an undoing, a coming apart, a disentanglement. But if middle school science class taught me anything, it’s that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. By that logic, to come apart, to come undone, to unravel, implies that there must be a coming together or resolve in the future.
As I tear out my knitting project and begin again, and process the end of a relationship, my hope is that by disentangling the past, I may move into my future.
While I’m not usually one for poetry, I have been exploring new ways of being and doing. On a walk yesterday, the urge to write came over me like a compulsion. My usual fix of journaling or stream of consciousness wouldn’t do, so I wrote this poem instead. I wanted to share.
“Unravel” by Anna Carmichael
A slow and fast fire has
set me ablaze
But don't forget
Fire is not always designed to destroy
yet protect
A controlled burn.
The pressure was mounting
of course
I would break
yet a break does not mean
Broken.
I am anew
shape not concrete
Malleable.
The sweater unraveled to
be woven again.
The forgotten fruit spoiled
to become the richest earth.
Thanks for reading!
xx,
Anna Bee