Robert Seatter
Army Sewing Kit
I had never seen him sew in my life.
Not a button. Not a hem.
Now here was this tiny package – and him telling me
how every man had been taught to use it.
Six round buttons in three different sizes,
tough khaki twine, red and white cotton thread
around a cardboard band, four pins
and a single gold-tipped needle.
His large square fingers became suddenly deft,
pulled the twine against the light,
through the needle, through one spinning button,
then down flat against the cloth.
And suddenly he was sewing for his life.
He had no son, no room to clear, no house
to move. There was just this moment.
Then the next. The silence and the terrible noise
inside the silence. Then the button anchored
tight at the edge of the collar. I could see it
right against his Adam’s apple, and him
swallowing hard again and then again.
Page(s) 33
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