Paired Corners
Poet: Rose Lennard
Sister, do you remember,
watching mum and dad perform the dance
of folding double bedsheets? I could
have watched forever and never tired.
And in my mind’s eye, the sheet
never gets smaller, so he and she
forever step together, tendering
their gifts of paired corners,
then step back, open wide their arms –
the clean white linen billowing
between them like angel wings –
and then the sheet drawn taut
with fine and practised precision
along smooth centrelines that both
agreed upon.
​
I thought that they would always know
which steps to take, which way
the cloth would fall.
Early photos of Rose show her up to her chin in flowers, and 5 decades later, not much has changed. A dancer, writer, environmental activist and lifelong gardener, she is often found creating ephemeral nature art in quiet corners of the countryside. Her poems often take shape on long walks, or in the small hours of the night, and have been published in a number of online magazines, including The Lake and Poetry Village.