resolve (or, closed figure-eight)
some knots are challenged to loosen,
some unravel with willful ease. such is life.
the utilitarian – the artist – cannot avoid the hobby,
is drawn to it, like the craft of tying knots
illustrated in books, or turned over in the palm.
my favorite is the closed figure-eight,
used to tie a boat, or sail, to a cleat,
keeping vessels from preternatural drift,
sails from a desire to follow the wind,
yet with talent for release at slight gesture,
a flash from the whim of the wrist.
an elegant design more than a knot,
a simple function superceding a simple form –
a graceful procedure, identical from each side,
forwards, backwards, and upside-down.
this, that bound me to the study of rope,
fastened my focus on patterns, not tangles,
led me to the true purpose of a line –
not what is meant to be on the end of it,
but how well it will hold.