Anita Patel (b. 1959)
SELECTED POEMS
Unfastened
Sometimes we need to leave
the poem behind…
and wander among shelves of soft yarn—
sea blue and grass green, burnt gold
as autumn leaves, yellow as lemon peel,
all the tints of a pigeon’s neck—
it’s good to take home a bag of light
and shadow—to hold skeins of twilight,
rose and lilac—make tea and sit
with a friend (or alone), unfastened
from the mystery of our own hands as
needles and hook turn thread
to cloth… umbs
from a rich man’s table…
by Anita Patel
from Petals Fall (2022)
