The writing prompt
I was sitting with a friend, and I told them “I want to write. What should I write? Give me a prompt. And then they turned to me and said “What if puppets made their own clothes?”
It’s best not to think about the pain. They won’t know it’s pain yet. Just a sharp rhythmic tick tick tick lighting up the dull everything, the sense growing with each pass. We come together like that. Stitch by stitch, awareness grows.
You dip the thread into the water. Your pasted on smile can’t lick the thread. You stick it through a metal tool to pull into the needle. Your felt mitts weren’t made for their fine motor skills. Don’t wonder what for. Why is this so hard? No answers come, not yet. Maybe after this project.
That’s what they call you. “Projects”. This is your fifth. Your needlework was clumsy on the first go, but it got better with time. This will be your last. Your stitches are even and neat. Smaller. You’ve heard that’s better. More durable.
After this, you’ll leave the workshop. This doll will take up the needle, just as you did, and keep sewing. Maybe you’ll learn why. Maybe you both will.
You sew on the eyes, and you see the sheen of fear. That’s how you felt too. The process is terrifying. It gets worse in the stuffing. Don’t think about it. It’s easier if you don’t remember. How it felt–almost done. It’s your mitt now. Almost over.
Just slap the mouth on and sew around it. That’s the last step. Everyone smiles here. There’s no room for anything else. It’s the rules. You become the rules. And when there is nothing but, that’s when you know you are ready.
Don’t think, just do. That’s what you are meant to.
You have finished Project #5.
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That’s why.
Writ Works 