Friday, March 8, 2019

SOL 8/31 and Poetry Friday: In Honor of Women Who Quilt!


 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core 
is hosting this week's round-up of poetic goodness.

When Catherine put out the call for poems honoring women in honor of International Women's Day, I knew immediately which poem I would share. It's a poem that I first read more than twenty years ago as I was taking a state teacher test in Texas. It moved me to tears and it took me awhile to track it down (pre Google days), but the search was worth it. It begins with these words:

"they were just meant as covers 
in winters 
as weapons 
against pounding january winds"

and concludes with these words:

"stretched out they lay 
armed/ready/shouting/celebrating 

knotted with love
the quilts sing on"
 
"My Mother Pieced Quilts" by Teresa Paloma Acosta remains one of my all-time favorite poems. Go ahead and click on the title to read the entire poem. I'm convinced that you'll love it too. For more background on the poet and commentary on the poem, check out this article.

It Skipped a Generation! is a post I wrote to honor the women in my family who sew.

And here's a poem I wrote to honor Cynthia Grady's 
beautiful book of poetry, I Lay My Stitches Down.

10 comments:

  1. Oh yes, the diligence, craft and creativity involved in making quilts. I especially love 'knotted with love, the quilts sing on'. They are generational so their makers will always be remembered!

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  2. Quilts as art amaze me. I't puzzling to me how it is possible to arrange fabric in so many different designs.

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  3. I enjoyed this slice a lot. I’ve wanted to quilt, have taken a class, bought some fancy scissors, done a couple of small projects, but never a quilt. I need to read the book of poems. I AM a reader.

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  4. Wonderful way of tying things together that you love - quilts, poetry, and strong women. Beautiful poems, all.

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  5. I love the pairing of quilts and strong women in your poems.

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  6. Quilts and honoring strong women is such a great pair! So great. My mom is a quilter and I really appreciate all of the quilts that she has made for me and my children.

    I must look up the book you posted about, too!

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  7. I need to get out the quilts that hold the memory of some of the strong women on earlier branches of my family tree!

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  8. I have many quilts from long ago & from my mother and aunt that are treasures. I notices that "way back in 2015" I commented, too. What a journey we are on! Love "I lay my stitches down and troubles fall
    away." Thanks for that early book and poem, too, Ramona!

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  9. I love every bit of this treasure-filled post, Ramona! We were on the same wavelength this week. Thank you for sharing "My Mother Pieced Quilts." It is new to me, and I do love it. Your daughter's quilt is stunning! My mother taught me how to sew and I used to sew quite a bit, but haven't in years. Have you gotten back to your quilt?

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