Kevin Borman
Stitches
You were weaving vivid abstracts into
the tapestry when I got in and passed on
what I’d heard; Jon, the Lakes,
an accident. I rang him, got the story,
a slip late in the day on Swirl How,
gashed knee, three stitches, hobbling.
I commiserated, told him about August ‘94,
a mistbound solo day on Carmarthen Fan.
Drizzle, overtrousers, the clamp of hillfog,
lacking concentration after hours alone.
A simple skid on greasy boulders, bone
visible through the slit shin, nausea welling
from the pain, the thought hitting that
no-one knew where I was. So after sitting,
breathing back to equilibrium, I worked
with compass, sodden map and deliberation
off the mountain, drove through a slow dark
to Brecon Hospital and my quota of stitches.
When they were due out I was in County Kerry,
Had been introduced to you a day earlier.
We’d talked non-stop, so I anaesthetised myself
with wine and asked you to snip the nylon knots.
As I ring off, we’re nearly five years on
and your eyes lift, raise a question
as the needle pulls colour, lances the fabric.
Page(s) 85-86
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