Seamstress

lillian

She ripped open seams . . .
slit through emotions,
shed the niceties.
Cruelty unmasked.
Avoid at all costs.

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I’m hosting Tuesday Poetics at dVerse today, the virtual pub for poets.  Prompt today is to write a poem using the word “shed” – or a form of the word. Pub opens at 3 PM Boston time. Come join us! 

66 thoughts on “Seamstress”

  1. Mandibelle16's avatar mandibelle16 January 22, 2019 / 2:31 pm

    Love this image with your poem. Ripping open the seams in this case is a terrible thing, it’s as if the speaker had let go of everything which makes her kind and nice. That she’s been torn apart so many times, all bets are off.

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      • Mandibelle16's avatar mandibelle16 January 22, 2019 / 7:53 pm

        Thank you. It was beautiful 🙂

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 22, 2019 / 3:40 pm

      Sadly in some relationships it’s very hard to avoid. I always had to walk on the proverbial egg shells with my mother. She could be wonderful and then explode. Thankfully only verbally….but that can rip at your seams as well.

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      • Sascha Darlington's avatar Sascha Darlington January 23, 2019 / 12:19 am

        You’ve described my mother as well. It made for an interesting childhood.

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      • merrildsmith's avatar merrildsmith January 24, 2019 / 5:54 am

        That is so sad, Lillian, to experience that tension.

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  3. kim881's avatar kim881 January 22, 2019 / 3:36 pm

    Thanks for the warning, Lill! Ripping open seams comes across as so violent but some people can do it so deftly we don’t notice until it’s too late.

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  5. Lisa or Li's avatar msjadeli January 22, 2019 / 4:04 pm

    Seam rippers can do a lot of undoing in a short amount of time. That drop of blood on it is a great visual.

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 22, 2019 / 7:19 pm

      Interesting! Actually that’s a photo of my seam ripper (I only use it on cloth or to untangle knots in threads or yarn!) and it has a tiny piece of red plastic on that end. But you’re right. It does look like a drop of blood and that certainly adds to the poem!

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      • Lisa or Li's avatar msjadeli January 22, 2019 / 7:21 pm

        oh wow, I thought you found that image out on the net and purposely chose it because of that. it was meant to be!

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 22, 2019 / 7:21 pm

      Ah…yikes says it all. Glad you enjoyed….or “enjoyed” may not be the right word!

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  8. Maggie C's avatar Maggie C January 22, 2019 / 4:49 pm

    I wonder if we are to avoid her, or if her cruelty is her way of avoiding being unmasked.

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 22, 2019 / 7:23 pm

      Chilling indeed. Lovely one moment and the next she can make you feel like the back of an upholstered couch that is being shredded by a cat’s claws.

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      • Portofino's avatar Charley January 22, 2019 / 7:28 pm

        A very familiar piece of weaponry. My mother was an amateur seamstress who was offered a job in a shop. She turned it down — nursing paid her better.

        Liked by 1 person

  11. robtkistner's avatar robtkistner January 22, 2019 / 6:00 pm

    Hate to admit it Lillian, but I’ve gotten to that ragged place, but I need to be torn to my limit before I get there…

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 22, 2019 / 7:24 pm

      I think we’ve all been pushed to our limits at times. It’s what we do when that happens and in the ensuing moments that matters.

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  12. katiemiafrederick's avatar katiemiafrederick January 22, 2019 / 6:49 pm

    Shedding Shadows
    No Longer
    Storing..
    Darkness
    Comes out to Play
    Best Friends Within
    No Longer Enemies
    LoVE Rises Higher Out
    oF
    dArk..
    Freeing
    Jungian
    Philosophies
    ReNeWinGFReSHinG
    uP Synchronicities oF LiFE
    Shedding MaGiC MoRE GiVinG
    Shedding
    Storing
    Less
    Freer NoW of
    Cultural Clothes
    BLack And White Abyss From: Grey
    SHades to: Beyond Rainbows Colors Gold…
    click
    click
    click
    HoMe..;)

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 22, 2019 / 7:25 pm

      Shades of rainbows….clicking our heels together to make that joy happen! Glad to see you here, Katie!

      Liked by 1 person

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      • katiemiafrederick's avatar katiemiafrederick January 22, 2019 / 9:50 pm

        As Always Thanks
        For the Prompt
        And Inspiration
        Of Your Poetry
        Lillian..
        ALWaYS
        Rejuvenating
        With JoY..
        SMiLes
        A Shedding..:)

        Liked by 1 person

  13. Jade M. Wong's avatar Jade M. Wong January 22, 2019 / 7:03 pm

    That context in which you use the phrase “she ripped open seams” here is shiver-inducing in the best way.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 22, 2019 / 7:26 pm

      Thank you, Violet. I’m sorry this hits close to home for you too.

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 23, 2019 / 5:13 pm

      And when the tongue is the seam ripper…lashing out….wicked and devastating it can be.

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 23, 2019 / 5:14 pm

      Thank you…appreciate your words here!

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      Reply
  17. rothpoetry's avatar rothpoetry January 22, 2019 / 9:24 pm

    Oh, I have known some of these people who shed the niceties and let it all hang out! I avoid them with a passion!

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 23, 2019 / 5:15 pm

      Oh yes…avoid them…but when you cannot…gird yourself to hear other words in your head!

      Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 23, 2019 / 5:16 pm

      Ah…now that’s the other side of the metaphor. The person wielding the seam ripper…the lashing out with the tongue. What is going on with them? What causes them to do that?

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 23, 2019 / 5:19 pm

      Hah! And if I don’t go metaphorical here….it is similar to “ripping out rows and rows of knitting…
      metaphorically: stripping one down to the bare bones (needles)

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  22. Nora's avatar Nora January 23, 2019 / 11:25 am

    I love that except for the last line, this little seam ripper could be a tool of mending or destroying. Beautifully taut.

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 23, 2019 / 5:19 pm

      Exactly! Use the tools you have wisely!

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  23. Frank J. Tassone's avatar Frank J. Tassone January 23, 2019 / 5:46 pm

    Seam ripping as flaying! Stark, heart-rending imagery so eloquently stated in so few lines. I’m undone, lillian! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 28, 2019 / 8:49 am

      oooh…. did not mean to make you undone….need to do some sewing to put you back together again! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed.

      Liked by 1 person

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  24. kanzensakura's avatar kanzensakura January 23, 2019 / 6:24 pm

    I like this! I have never been craftsy with my hands except for cooking. I love the thought of ripping open seams, unmasking cruelty. I like your seam ripper too. I still have one from my ancient home ec days but alas, it lies idle in a junk drawer.

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 28, 2019 / 8:50 am

      Glad you enjoyed, Toni. My sewing machine did not come with me in our move to Boston some 20+ years ago. It was well used though when our children were small. These days, I use my seamripper to untangle knots if I’m mending by hand. Yep – I do mend. 🙂
      As a metaphor, it’s an entirely different thing!

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      • kanzensakura's avatar kanzensakura January 28, 2019 / 4:14 pm

        I too mend. It is the only sewing I can do! I am a whiz bang darner of socks.

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  25. merrildsmith's avatar merrildsmith January 24, 2019 / 6:00 am

    So stark and raw, Lillian, in only a few words. And the image works so well with it–stark.

    Do you ever get a scene in your head from a poem? For some reason, I got an image of an eighteenth-century woman in mind. No, idea where that came from. I think “cruelty” made me think “Dangerous Liaisons” or something. . . 🙂

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    • lillian's avatar lillian January 28, 2019 / 8:52 am

      Oh yes….I do get a scene or person in my head from folks’ writing. I particularly love Bjorn’s ancient librarian…and sometimes when I’m at the Boston Public Library which is quite beautiful, I think of him meandering through the stacks! 🙂

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      • merrildsmith's avatar merrildsmith January 28, 2019 / 9:14 am

        Love that–traveling miles through your imagination. 🙂

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  27. Abigail Gronway's avatar Abigail Gronway January 24, 2019 / 2:29 pm

    Wow! How quickly the scene shifted from innocuous to villainous. Beware the seamstress who rips without mending! Good warning.

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