Beaded

This is another poem inspired during my "Walk and Write" at the UAF Museum of the North.  I spent probably ten minutes just studying pieces of Alaskan Native bead work.  The intricate details, the patterns, the amount of effort that goes into any piece...

It was definitely inspiring.

Beaded

 

Tanned hands

Stiff with arthritis
Yet fingers still nimble

Deftly, deliberately

Needle darts, moving like a
Hummingbird.

Soft, supple hide

Rolls in the hand,
A natural, worthy campus.

Gossip shared, news delivered

Politics discussed
Friendships rekindled

Functional, ceremonial

The labor of love worn
Distinguished and powerful