Ancestors

Written by Common Sparrow on 2025-01-28 at 06:19

Twenty thousand years,

spindles twirled in women's hands,

spinning threads of life.

[#]DailyHaikuPrompt - Thread

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Toot

Written by Common Sparrow on 2025-01-28 at 06:35

Today's haiku prompt - "thread" - reminded me of this excellent book -

"Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years" by Elizabeth Barber

I first read it nearly 30 years ago, and it has remained in my mind ever since. It's about the earliest history of spinning and weaving in the Bronze Age, and the role women played in developing these arts, and the role these arts played in the lives of women.

What has stayed in my mind all these years is the image of women everywhere with spindles and distaffs always in hand, spinning as they went through their days, spinning as they walked down the road, spinning as they sat beside cooking pots, spinning as they tended children, spinning as they visited and socialized. Spinning and spinning.

No wonder spinning played such a part in cultural memory, from the three Fates spinning the thread of a human life, to Ariadne's ball of thread in the labyrinth, to fairy tales like Rumplestiltskin.

Now that today's poem prompt has reminded me of that book, I think it's going on my reading queue, (after i finish all the books already in line!)

[#]Books #FiberArts

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Descendants

Written by Common Sparrow on 2025-01-28 at 06:41

Today's Haiku prompt also reminded me of a poem which has been the screensaver on my desktop computer for the past few months.It's a meaningful reminder to pause when I start up my computer, and reflect on the poem for a moment before I launch into computer busyness.

The Way It Is

by William Stafford

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among

things that change. But it doesn’t change.

People wonder about what you are pursuing.

You have to explain about the thread.

But it is hard for others to see.

While you hold it you can’t get lost.

Tragedies happen; people get hurt

or die; and you suffer and get old.

Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.

You don’t ever let go of the thread.

[#]Poetry

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