[bolt] noun

A roll of cloth or wallpaper
of specified length.

As in: I sewed a humid
Ozark summer
with my grandmother,
and we pricked our fingers
over the quilt I swore
I’d hand to you
because the fabric
of my ancestors
would bridge the distance
of language that tore us apart—
nine bolts of chambray sky, plaid river.

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Dave Malone is the author of You Know the Ones (Golden Antelope Press, 2017), and his work has appeared in journals such as San Pedro River Review, The Meadow, and Plainsongs. Dave lives in West Plains, Missouri, and hosts the Friday Poems series at his website, davemalone.net.

Photo: amirali mirhashemian