Margaret Hasse Verse-Virtual 2016 December

December 2016

I grew up in Vermillion, South Dakota, and was educated at Stanford University (B.A., English) and the University of Minnesota (M.A., English). I started writing poetry when I was a child and never stopped. For the past thirty years, I’ve lived in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where I teach and consult with arts organizations on their plans and programs. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate in receiving some awards for my poetry, including a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. My fifth book of poetry, Between Us, will be released in 2016. Visit my website at www.MargaretHasse.com

To Ride a Bike

My husband told me he was taught
on an old Schwinn with fat tires.

One Saturday morning in spring
when the sun was a bright penny

and dew dampened his sneakers,
his father made him mount the bike

on a hilltop, teeter-balance, and pedal.
Down he went, in his memory

way, way down, then shoved the bike
up again like a little Sisyphus.

He held that first, heart-stabbing fear
against his father.

Yet when the time came for our son
to get on a bicycle, my husband

took him to a slope, had him
clamber aboard and told him to go.

Now my husband sees his mountain
of childhood like this soft rise in a park.

As with his father, he’s given his son
the gift of riding a swift beast
wherever it goes.

-from Between Us (2016)

Knitting Pattern

She took me in hand, taught me
to knit wool from lambs
she raised to sheep.

With my torn jeans and dirty face
I was wild as a barn cat.
She gave me the quiet
of her farmhouse, helped me cast on
into the realm of soft clicking,
elbows moving up and down
like bellows breathing.

I learned the delicate dip and dive
of needles and the patient way
to stockinet, garter, seed.
How not to drop a stitch.

Now a neighbor child
whose mother says can’t sit still
comes to me for lessons.
Her feet don’t reach the floor
but the scarf grows long
on her needles.

After we finish a session
we go out on the back porch
to bark and yowl, as I did
with my teacher who said:
Calm down a bit
but don’t get prissy.

-from Between Us (2016)

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