A Prairie Home Companion from American Public Media: First Person

The Cotton Anniversary
by Mark Moody
January 10, 2007

Numerology reveals that 2
indicates partnering, adaptability,
consideration of others. And 22 --
the Master Builder, a powerful force,
a large endeavor.

In second grade it proved to be
the most difficult of numerals:
hours spent getting the curlicue
just right, so that the long curve
of its neck would flow from the pencil
without effort, down the elegant body
to nestle on the pale blue line.

This year it's grown difficult again,
wanting at times to unbend, break
back to its singular parts in our trials
by escrow and exile. But our lives
have taught us nothing if not tenacity,
and the fullness of two come together.

Six 2s in the new address, four of them
cursive white swans in stained glass
over the green front door. 21213
reads the zip code we're headed for,
and that 3 seems both postscript and portent,
a synthesis of all that has tested us.

Tradition calls for cotton gifts
at this juncture, tokens from a fabric
of entanglement, filaments twisted
together: strong and durable,
tender and familiar.

For Dennis

About the author:
This poem is about the house my partner and I were purchasing in Baltimore around the time of our second anniversary, after moving away from San Francisco, a city we could no longer afford to live in. He passed on this last summer. We were together 7 wonderful years, and I remain in the home he made so beautiful for us. I spend my time keeping up the house, catering to the cats and committing social work to pay the bills and support my poetry habit.