Oikos
Our watered home,
the womb of life,
blinks as a bright blue cell
from outer space.
Earth is a seedbed
for the myriad microbes
that dance upward
into all the forms
we’ve classified as kingdoms
with ourselves enthroned
as the crown of creation.
Without us Earth would be Eden,
balanced and beautiful,
the green grass of our home
untrammelled and not laid to waste.
On this bit of cloth at least
the fecundity of forests and flowers
flourishes unhindered.
So apt in these dark days for Gaia
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Thanks for reading and noting the message. Yes, bleak days indeed
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The poem gives added depth to your thought provoking art quilt.
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Why thank you Judith
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Beautifully appropriate, Mariss.
Questions: do you plan out word placement? It looks like it’s free form machine stitched words, so how would you control that especially going around a circle?
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Thanks Laura. Yes it is free form and no I don’t plan. Just stitched off the seat of my pants and with hope to guide the needle. (It doesn’t always work of course and unpicking FM stitching is nigh impossible.)
Question : are you receiving my comments on your posts? Congrats on six years of blogging and six days of posts
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Oh yes, I am…and responded to them yesterday. Are you not getting those responses to your comments? Please let me know as I tend to have WP issues. 😦
Wow, I am impressed with FMQ by the seat of your pants ‘handwriting’ wow!
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Thanks for the WOW.
Worked out that I was not getting notices of your responses because had not ticked a box.
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Stunning quilt, beautifully embellished! Thanks for these reminders Mariss and Barbara Kingsolver.
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And thank you for your enthusiastic response and for reading the stitched print
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A masterpiece on so many levels! Your talent blows my mind 🙂
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Grateful thanks
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I had to look up the word ‘oikos’ and discover why you chose it to add such depth and resonance to your already deep and resonating poem. I had no idea that the ‘eco’ in ecology came from this word and it adds to my understanding of the concept – so thank you. Anyway, I really like the poem and have reread it several times and like it more each time. The poem and the quilt complement each other. On one level the quilt makes me think of green planet Earth, our home, floating in the blue. (I am also amazed at the cursive script – which is tantalizing as I only picked out some of the words to read.)
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I am bowled over by your incisive comments. Thank you.
The Kingsolver quotation comes from her book, Small Wonder, and the essay “Knowing our Place”. The words I stitched are: “We sing the song of our home because we are animals, and an animal is no better or wiser or safer than its habitat and food chain. Among the greatest of all gifts is to know our place.” (p.40).
Barbara Kingsolver is my hero
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That is a lovely quote and so profound. It is definitely stitch-worthy and perfect for the quilt. I must make an effort to get hold of some of Kingsolver’s non-fiction. (I regret that I was never able to get into “Poisonwood Bible” – a poor reflection on me rather than the book!)
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Wow! A nice poem and a nice quilt, too. Can you do all that writing freehand with your sewing machine???
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Thank you for liking the poem and the quilt. Yes, I did write freehand with my sewing machine. The trick is to keep going, like I was taught when I first learnt cursive writing at school all those years ago. Confession: I did practise with a pencil on paper first, and I did draw chalk guidelines on the fabric to emulate exercise book lines
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Truly beautiful quilt and truly moving words, Mariss. My favourite line describes the untrammeled green grass of home — something I’ve also imagined. The poem puts a great twinge in my heart at all we’ve done, with hope for something better. I love your stitched cursive, too. 👍
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Thank you for being moved by the poem, despite its bleak message, and its accompanying quilt
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I’m so glad I read the comments! I was looking at your post on my phone, and didn’t see the lettering the first time! Incredible work – both quilt and timely poem.
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Thanks for your kind words and for taking the time to read the comments. I have been overwhelmed by the responses
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Enjoy them… You’ve earned it 😊
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