Thread by Thread

You were born on a cloud-clogged night
to the ring of your own tintinnabular cry,
you were fed thread by thread by your mother.

You learned to love in another country
—and the wind with its thousand hands
took what it could, and through star-clogged eyes

you watched dawn shake loose its skin—
and the saffron sun rained marigolds
as you gave yourself thread by thread to another.

Oh, body that is swept of its senses—you
learned to love with your brain and breath.
Your children will be born into the fog-clogged

years when you’ll mend your mother like a doll
and bury your father, whose mind has unspooled
thread by thread to a child’s. Cupping each word

like a stone, you’ll wear your language like a family
heirloom. And your marigold chest will burn
when your grandchildren are born on a dream-clogged night
—you’ll begin to dissolve thread by thread into the cross-stitched sky

First published in The Acentos Review

Gloria Muñoz is a writer, educator and translator whose experiences include writing for print and online publications, teaching writing at universities and NGOs in the U.S. and India, and co-directing educational outreach programs with nonprofits serving low-income communities. As a first generation Colombian American, Gloria’s work explores the intersections of identity, space and cultures. She is the recipient of honors including the Estelle J. Zbar Poetry Prize, the Bettye Newman Poetry Award, the New York Summer Writer’s Institute Fellowship, and the Think Small to Think Big Artist Grant. Gloria teaches at Eckerd College, she is the editor for Images and Voices of Hope, and she is a co-founder of Pitch Her Productions, a nonprofit production company dedicated to the advancement of women in the film industry.