Telos

the rotary cutter freewheels
abstracted lines
cut without a ruler
outside the rules
outside the lines

collars
buttons
cuffs
discarded symbols
work
position
titles
gone
leaving single layers

cloth that touched a body, embraced skin
thinned by the trauma of life itself
sweat and breath like gossamer warp and weft remain

I slice it through
it feels like pain

shirt after shirt unmade
fragments of what they were
spill across the sewing surface
piles in waiting

they will be remade
leftovers gleaned to the hemmed edges
working the scraps, cycle of a woman’s life
torn, frail, failed and cut
piece and stitch, re-membered, beauty from ashes

soft multitudes in blues and red
collective undoing
singularly remade
row, clip, stitch and join
a synonym and antonym of what it was

pieced and pierced
stitched back together
new from old
so shall we be

Miriam J. Fisher is an Education Lecturer and Masters of Theology student at Laidlaw College. She lives in Ōtautahi/Christchurch and has a particular interest in the Arts, both educationally, and in spiritual formation and transformation. In faith and education, she is interested in an expression that honours the context of Aotearoa and all the richness of bicultural partnerships, including the use of Te Reo and NZSL. Miriam loves the dramatic and colourful as well as contemplative spirituality. She enjoys experimentation with stitches, fabric, and words, and seeks to integrate these into her spiritual practice.