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Knit One, Haiku Too
Knitting and haiku, together at last!
The soft clacking of needles, the repetitive looping of yarn…you’ve fallen under the spell of knitting. For you, and for knitters the world over, this ancient craft is more than just a hobby, it’s a soothing practice with a rhythm and mystery that echoes its sister in poetry, the haiku.
Written for the passionate knitter, Knit One, Haiku Too is a tribute to all there is to love about the creativity, the meditation, and the contemplation.
The soft clacking of needles, the repetitive looping of yarn…you’ve fallen under the spell of knitting. For you, and for knitters the world over, this ancient craft is more than just a hobby, it’s a soothing practice with a rhythm and mystery that echoes its sister in poetry, the haiku.
Written for the passionate knitter, Knit One, Haiku Too is a tribute to all there is to love about the creativity, the meditation, and the contemplation.
- GenresPoetry
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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November 20, 2012I am reading for inspiration for writing. Recently, I've been experimenting with haiku, incorporating it into my daily activities which usually include knitting or some other textile craftwork.
Fire's stories of her family and haiku are tied together with the story of knitting's role in her everyday life. While I found some of her stories unnerving and a bit disagreeable, I like the form the book took, much like the liked the form of Wharton's Ethan Frome.
This book is on its way back to BWB, but it was worth reading as fuel for my creative fire.
Fire's stories of her family and haiku are tied together with the story of knitting's role in her everyday life. While I found some of her stories unnerving and a bit disagreeable, I like the form the book took, much like the liked the form of Wharton's Ethan Frome.
This book is on its way back to BWB, but it was worth reading as fuel for my creative fire.
February 13, 2012
I love this little book and I'm not a knitter (I've spent more than two years trying to knit one hat!).
Maria Fire is a knitter. She is also a poet and a teller of stories. The yarns that compose this gem of a book come in a rainbow of narrative hues. Stories from her past--of the old woman who taught her to knit, of friends who knit their way through sadness, of children and men who learned to knit. There are gleanings from other writers' stories about characters who knit, and of course, there is haiku. "Kitting with spirits/shedding again and again, what you think you know." One haiku for each narrative on a separate page of its own with the image of yarn or knitting needles to purl the two together.
In one of my favorite stories in this book, "Stitches that Danced," Fire tells of the time she took her young boys to see the movie White Nights with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines. On the way out of the theater afterwards the boys "threw their hand up over their heads and sprang into the air. They left me behind, vaulting like Baryshnikov all the way to our small Toyota." Afterwards Zach, her eight-year-old signed up for a program of modern dance for children -- a "summer in the park" offering. For the recital, he wore the flowing and golden-flecked silk scarf that she had knitted for him. "As he danced with his friends, the scarf fluttered behind him," Fire writes. "He told me he felt like a magician making gold in the air." Is this not an enchanting idea -- young boy who thinks of himself as a magician dancing gold in the air?
Fire knits more than gold into this lovely little book.
Maria Fire is a knitter. She is also a poet and a teller of stories. The yarns that compose this gem of a book come in a rainbow of narrative hues. Stories from her past--of the old woman who taught her to knit, of friends who knit their way through sadness, of children and men who learned to knit. There are gleanings from other writers' stories about characters who knit, and of course, there is haiku. "Kitting with spirits/shedding again and again, what you think you know." One haiku for each narrative on a separate page of its own with the image of yarn or knitting needles to purl the two together.
In one of my favorite stories in this book, "Stitches that Danced," Fire tells of the time she took her young boys to see the movie White Nights with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines. On the way out of the theater afterwards the boys "threw their hand up over their heads and sprang into the air. They left me behind, vaulting like Baryshnikov all the way to our small Toyota." Afterwards Zach, her eight-year-old signed up for a program of modern dance for children -- a "summer in the park" offering. For the recital, he wore the flowing and golden-flecked silk scarf that she had knitted for him. "As he danced with his friends, the scarf fluttered behind him," Fire writes. "He told me he felt like a magician making gold in the air." Is this not an enchanting idea -- young boy who thinks of himself as a magician dancing gold in the air?
Fire knits more than gold into this lovely little book.
May 8, 2013
Sweet. I recognized a lot of Fire's feelings about post-surgery brain fog and really appreciated what she had to say about sort of re-integrating as a person with an illness and learning to adjust your goals for what you can manage.
My soul still yearns for a book about knitting, illness, connectivity, adaptability, and mental health without all the foofy mysticism! Maybe I'll just freaking write it.
My soul still yearns for a book about knitting, illness, connectivity, adaptability, and mental health without all the foofy mysticism! Maybe I'll just freaking write it.
February 7, 2008
A little book of meandering thoughts about knitting, life, poetry and family. Some nice writing work in here, though the haikus weren't terribly strong. This book was a holiday gift from a friend.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews