Poetry Friday – The Collected Works of Susan Ramsey

This one will probably be best appreciated by the knitters amongst you. 

Mariah Educates the Sensitive

In the first place,

you are not allergic to wool.

That lie is the bastard brat

of ignorance, overheating and vanity.

You may be allergic to cats,

angora rabbits,

dust, mold, pollen, the stings of bees,

bad dreams, the semen

of Rh negative men,

or, if you were an axe murderer

in a former existence,

strawberries.  You could be reacting

to chemical dyes, the sulfuric acid

they soak wool in to carbonize the hay,

sheep dip so deeply lethal

it kills on contact, bad vibes

from an old cryptorchid ram, hysteria

or bad karma.  But not wool.

Never wool.

Has it ever crossed your mind

that there are breeds,

that each breed extrudes

a different wool?  You buy

a crappy, scratchy,

certainly Suffolk

sweater because you like

the pretty color,

then brag that you’re too sensitive

to wear wool.  What do you know

of Merino, Spanish wool so fine

it makes a grandmother’s love

seem cold and harsh? 

Men were beheaded

for smuggling these sheep. 

You could spend a life

exploring the differences

between Icelandic and Churro,

Black Welsh Mountain,

Finn, Romney, Jacob, Corriedale,

Karakul, Cheviot, Shetland, Lincoln, Leister–

both Border and Blue Faced–

Coopworth, Cormo, Targhee, Wenslydale,

Herdwick, Swaledale,

Cotswold, God forbid,

Dorset, Tunis, Polworth, Rambouillet.

Then you could start on rare breeds.

Don’t get me started.

Wool is the perfect fiber,

the only one

which insulates when wet.

Wet cotton, silk,

are out to save themselves, leaching

your body heat away.

Like us, wool breathes.

Unlike us, it’s blessed with memory,

returns to its original shape when washed.

Wool is proof of a benign, personal God,

is grace, divine intervention at its best.

It’s why sheep are mentioned in the Bible

more than any other animal.

I made that up,

but you believed me, proving

you’ve had your own suspicions

all along.

When mercury freezes,

hang your quilts on the wall.

Curl under wool.

Wool knows you’re a mammal.

It’s sympathetic, doesn’t just conserve

body heat–it radiates it,

melting your bunched muscles

into something capable of sleep,

making sure your dreams

fill with green fields.

Rhino 2002