HELENA LEON MAYER
The spinning and the spindle
the rod must pierce the centre of the weight the way a spine pierces through your body. the weight must be a
perfect circle, with a perfect centre. how you would look, from above, spinning with your arms stretched out.
the hook must sit on the top of the rod. point of creation, a reaching hand. the fibres must be loose but
strong, like your hair after you let it dry. snag the fibres on the hook, the way you snag your mind on a problem.
spin the rod against the palm of your hand.
remember being a child, the endless wonder of a spinning top, of making it stop with a
small finger. remember before that, spinning into the world. hold the spin.
with your top hand, tease the fibres apart, a triangle. pinch your other fingers below, ease the fibres and feel
them catch in the tension. drafting: something unfinished, a wind blowing through the house.
when the thread is long enough, wind it onto the rod. it will be clumsy and uneven.
but then they will appear behind you: a set of hands. two sets of hands. four sets of hands.
eight sets of hands. sixteen. thirty-two. sixty-four. one hundred and twenty-eight.
like yours but different, older, much older. they guide the movement of fibre,
tension, rotation into creation. spinning out to you. spinning past you,
and the twist of the future wobbles, wobbles, then steadies, balancing, continuing.
it would be best to do this in the evening, with others to laugh with.
but here you are. cold and alone and still spinning.
?
spin
spin
spin
er sagt du spinnst du spinnst he says you’re spinning you’re spinning
the movement of fibre to yarn the movement of thought to chaos or
what he means is the circling of a finger
around a temple what he means is the
indication of hysteria du spinne
you spider or is it spins
-ter spinster spinster
the craft or the
independence
the craft
or the
crazy
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
spin
Helena Leon Mayer (German, Pākehā) is writer and clumsy crafter from Hauraki living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. They are working on their first poetry collection, in conversation with the pre-Christian Germanic deity Holda. Their writing can be found in previous issues of Starling and in letters to their friends.