Had a poetry night with the Reimagine girls tonight. Mostly we read for each other from our favorites, but we also did a quick writing exercise: a poem inspired by one word, chosen by the person to your left. Great fun, with some impressive results from the group overall. Here's my bit:

Silk

I think first of soy milk
and then of "smooth as" and flowy dresses
and then of all the the other textural cliches.
And then I think of how it comes from worms,
ugly gray little things,
as a matter of fact.
I know because we used to raise them:
we fed them mulberry leaves from the front yard,
watched them spin gray cocoons,
and then gnaw their way,
transformed,
through the thread.
They lived a flightless seven days
as ugly gray little moths;
they mated,
and they laid their eggs,
ugly gray little dots we used to keep
in old shoebox lids.
We put them in the freezer
until spring came again
and there were fresh mulberry leaves
in the front yard.

I remember also
the story of a Chinese princess
who smuggled worms hidden in her hair:
I think of how she carried beauty,
disguised as ugly gray little things,
in those silky tresses.
And I think of the promise
of ugly gray little things
stored in my childhood freezer.