When crocheting a poem
be sure to be awake
Do not use Siri
She is forever asleep
She has no dreams
She will take your words
and insert them in her circuits
and her machines will whirl
in random patterns
producing a million monkeys
on typewriters
quoting Shakespeare
Look at the clouds
blow a ghost fantasy
dream that school of sardines alive
Use the wrong punctuation
Drop a few and purl one
Fall asleep to wake again
and let the words fall out of your mouth
like pearls
String them and wear to a Dodgers game
with an evening dress
Flaunt your aliveness
Smile at everyone you see
If you decide to knit the poem
refer to a pattern
but add ropes and daisies
If you begin to fumble
refer again to the pattern
but do not follow it
It will only confuse you
Know that the poem
comes from
the tiniest of nothingness
Alice Pero’s first book of poetry, “Thawed Stars”, was praised by Kenneth Koch as having “clarity and surprises.” Ms. Pero is also an accomplished flutist. She founded the reading series Moonday in 2002 and Windsong Players Chamber Ensemble in 2015. She is the current Poet Laureate of Sunland/Tujunga, California.
