The following tender poem and beautiful art work came my way the other day and I asked for permission to share it here. I love the idea of the “quilt of humanity” and that we all need to recycle, literally and metaphorically, to make our world a safer place to be.

Julia Myers poem with art by Gina Litherland

“The old threads are unraveling,

Get your needles ready.

We are stitching a new quilt

of humanity.

Bring your old t-shirts,

worn out jeans, scarves,

antique gowns, aprons,

old pockets of plenty

who have held Earth’s treasures,

stones, feathers, leaves,

love notes on paper.

Each stitch

A mindful meditation.

Each piece of material

A story.

The more color the better,

so call in the tribes.

Threads of browns, whites,

reds, oranges

Women from all nations

start stitching.

Let’s recycle the hate, the abuse,

the fear, the judgment.

Turn it over, wash it clean,

ring it out to dry.

It’s a revolution

of recycled wears.

Threads of greens, blues, purples

Colorful threads

of peace, kindness,

respect, compassion

are being stitched

from one continent to the next

over forests, oceans, mountains.

The work is hard

Your fingers may bleed.

But each cloth stitched together

Brings together a community.

A world, our future world

Under one colorful quilt.

The new quilt of humanity.”

~Julia Myers

One of our old and very lovely buildings, Redruth Drapery Stores on West End, has been bought and is being renovated to become a place for the community to celebrate the arts in all shapes and sizes. The door hook is either brand new or newly polished and it pleased me.

Shiny door hook

This cartoon, in The Guardian this morning, made me laugh. I, too, have been watching the petition numbers go up but not so obsessively I needed a bucket.

Clare in the Community