It was the middle of September when Jessica and I went on our first date, while we were in university. That was twenty-three years ago, and ever since our lives have been woven together in too many ways to count. That’s what this poem is about:

Threads

I walked by
and her smile caught and
pulled at the edge of me like a thread
snagging on the zipper of my coat

I saw her in class
and she asked me a question
and somehow her voice
knotted up my insides

I asked if I
could hold her hand
and my heart got caught
in the tangle of our fingers

I asked if she
would be my wife
and now every morning
and season and sickness
and child and coffee and smile and Christmas
is weaving my life into her
and her beautiful threads into me
and I’m not even sure anymore
which ones are mine

and that’s fine