My Keen and Doleful Heart
Annette Sisson
Image Benigno Hoyuela
You threaded the machine,
wound the bobbin, set
the foot feed. I turned away
restless, young, indifferent.
Now I sort your stacks
of fabric, reach for a pattern.
I drink your raspberry tea,
copy your recipes, study
your paintings, journals, the weather
you recorded, the rain you measured.
These habits folded your days
into shapes, arranged by time
and color: red poppies,
white shastas, the emerald
swatch of a hummingbird’s head,
moonshine on corn silk,
the loam that warms the stalks’
roots, their first rising.
I want you to know
how I mark the monarchs
and bluebirds, how I monitor gardens
and clouds, fields long with stubble,
how I gauge rainfall, the flowering
of blackberries—how I crave
your corduroy and flannel in October.
Your stitches are the measure
of my footfall, the bright constrictions
of my keen and doleful heart.
Annette Sisson
Annette Sisson lives in Nashville, TN, teaches at Belmont University, and enjoys traveling, hiking, baking, watching birds, and supporting local theater. She has published poetry in various journals, published a chapbook in May 2019 (Finishing Line), and was named a BOAAT Writing Fellow for 2020. She recently finished a full-length book of poetry, Small Fish in High Branches, and has begun her quest for a publisher.