I'll be writing a blog post about Washington Square Park, the movie Passionada, and some other things in a few days. Some things have come up that will keep me somewhat afk... in the meantime, a poem written by Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings:


Double Knots

Tied in two, twisted ‘round
Here’s the sneakers
Laces no longer white
But softer than cotton
From a year of being tied
And untied and tied again

“these double knots are too tight,
Can you help me undo them?”

I’ll have to undo them
Using my fingernails
Or using my tweezers when stress
Has left me with nothing on the ends of my fingers
To undo double knots with

Once or twice, I’ve used my teeth
Which was really bleh plith plith thap
But made the kids laugh
When I made a face and spit off the dirt
That got stuck on my lips

Wet double knots are the worst
And the tightest
The hardest to undo
But they are the ones that were created
By the most interesting and important journeys
Through mud puddles or beach shores

I make it a point to remember that
It keeps me patient and focused

These double knots in life, I’ve learned
Are always undoable… I’ve never used scissors
Or given up
No matter how hard or how much time is to be invested

It once took me two days of trying to undo a double knot
I had to wait for the laces to dry, but I got that double knot undone

I undo the double knots, even though I know
That eventually there will be another double knot
To undo, but it keeps them from tripping
On hanging laces

Sometimes too hard for them to undo, yet
But with each undoing, with each moment of determination
They will each learn to untie their own laces
And feel strong enough and capable enough
To undo the double knots that come up in life
My wish for each of them… double knots that don’t give them too much of a struggle,
and Velcro and slip on shoes.

~*~*~*~*~



Will be undoing some double knots for a few days. Wet ones, the hardest kind, but it's ok... mud puddles happen.