Thank you Laura Purdie Salas for hosting Poetry Friday this week. Stop by and read her music inspired verse.
I have always liked making things and my mother encouraged me to sew.
She left the Singer on the dining room table for me to use when I wanted. She’d be downstairs cooking in our family’s restaurant kitchen and I could always find her if I needed help. Her birthday was last month.
I don’t spend much time sewing now. But I am about to finish a small quilted wall hanging, the size of a extra large place mat, with wonky stripes inspired by the amazing quilting artist Maria Shell. It’s free form “modern quilting” with no rigid rules, like a free verse poem.
Without my mother’s encouragement I probably would have never learned to sew. I sometimes wonder if sewing has become a frivolous activity in the 21st century. But I know it isn’t.
The man who owned the fabric store where I grew up was a Holocaust survivor. His wife, an expert seamstress, used to help me pick out fabric. I’d look at bolts of fabric for hours and they were always patient and kind to me.
Thirty later I saw Mr. S again. He was elderly and his wife had recently passed away. It was touching to see him again. He told me that they hid together for many months, as teenagers, in a cave in the woods near Warsaw to escape the Nazis. With needle and thread Mrs. S sewed warm clothing with cloth that he stole during night time excursions to town. Her sewing helped keep them warm. My teachers or parents never taught me about the Holocaust, unfortunately, even as I had Jewish friends in school.
To end, I’ll share a haiku I wrote this morning inspired my the amaryllis blooming in my kitchen, four flowers blooming north, south, east and west.
a lighthouse casting four beacons!
Who keeps the lights on?
Wow, Janice, what a post filled with courage and hope and beauty. Thank you for every bit of it, all stitched together with your compassion and and awe.
Thank you, Laura, and my best wishes to you.
The image of an amaryllis as a lighthouse beacon, with its four directions, is perfect. Thank you for sharing Mr. S’s story. I’m glad you learned from him what you did not learn at home or school.
That’s true, Laura. Teachers have such an important job!
I love that amaryllis photo and haiku–the image of a lighthouse is fitting. I never learned to sew, but my daughter enjoys sewing (thanks to grandmother and 4H leaders). I love seeing her creations and have a set of quilted place mats and table runner with similar free-form lines as your wall hanging.
I’m touched by this post, Janice. It reminded me of my mother-in-law who was also an expert seamstress who survived the Holocaust. She, too, had amazing stories to tell (she was in two camps, including Auschwitz) and was, in the end, a beacon for all of us.
I never tire of hearing these stories. God bless your mother in law!
Hello Janice .
I feels nourishing, to meet Salt City Verse viahosting from Laura Purdie Salas of #YourSong Poetry Friday.
I am stopped in my tracks by your potent memory of Mr. & Mrs. S & her story of the hard-scrabble life outside the Warsaw cave home in WW2/the Holocaust. My own writing path is such that I am always so grateful always to hear of souls who survived that.
Appreciations for sharing your connection to fabrics through your Mother & this kind couple. I love the points on the compass idea of the bright winter bloom.
I think an answer to the question is: You. You are keeping a beacon.
Thank you, Jan.
I’d never thought of the amaryllis as pointing in the cardinal directions. And then to imagine them as beacons of light–brilliant! I thoroughly enjoyed your post from start to finish.
Oh! I have come from Tabatha’s poem to this. A perfect segue. These quiet moments of reflection are so poignant, powerful and beautiful. Thank-you. (I too learn to sew with my mother – and have recently been rediscovering the joy. Even invested in my first overlooker (which you may perhaps call a serger??) – and have been half in fear, half in wonder of that! Your haiku is beautiful – as are your amaryllis. I didn’t realise they were flowers. Just a name.
Thanks for sharing your sewing story. My mom used to be a prolific sewer of all sorts of beautiful things. But she didn’t teach me how to sew because (she told me years later) she wanted me to do better things. I can sew a little, but nothing too fancy. Still, when I do, I feel connected to my grandpa who was a tailor and escaped from Europe after WWI and my mom, too.
Your amaryllis haiku–and your amaryllis–is beautiful. I love the lighthouse image.
There’s so much to love in this post! Thank you!
I like the connection of beacons of light in your poem to the story you shared with us about Mr. and Mrs. S. who shared light with you. I’ve written a couple of poems about sewing–it’s something one has to slow down for and focus on. Good luck with your wall hanging Janice, and thanks for your rich post!
What a story, Janice. I don’t recall being taught much about the Holocaust either. There was a lovely gentleman who ran our local dry cleaners and tailor shop when I was little. I was always intrigued by the A18651 tattooed to his arm. When I was old enough to understand, my father shared with me the story of Mr. Arbeiter’s imprisonment in Auschwitz. I’ve never forgotten him or his story. Congratulations on finishing your wall hanging! My amaryllis has just its southern beacon left. The other three have now “burned out.”
What a beautiful remembrance of your fabric store owner friend, Mr. S and his wife. Thanks for sharing it, and for sharing your lovely amaryllis haiku. And I love your comparison of quilting and free verse!