CAUTION: CONTAINS SHARP OBJECTS
A terrible warning that could be plastered on many boxes,
but this particular one contains the needle felting kit I asked my sister for
Christmas. I wanted to become the kind of person that
dabbles in creation, that brings life to something beautiful, or at least
endearing. That’s a lie, or at least a half truth. I was mostly
fascinated by the idea that wool could be held at needlepoint,
gouged and stabbed over and over and over and over and over again,
hacked at until Voila! Teeny-tiny kitten, wee little pumpkin, or
irresistible boxed chocolates, down to the swirly bits on top. This
just so happens to be the kit I got. Opened it once then never again,
knowing full well I could never pull off something so intricate, no,
lovely, delicate. Not so much for a lack of time or dedication, but largely
my unwillingness to craft something disarmed. That’s a full truth.
Now here’s another one - I am everything antithetical to beauty.
Oafish, bumbling fingers are my own needles, sharp objects imposing
pain. Or nothing. I don’t know what’s worse - a needle that
quakes at the possibility of making beauty out of pain, or one that
revels in it. Perhaps the needle wants to be beautiful. Can
sharp objects be beautiful in their own right? Maybe another
truth, perhaps the only truth, is that I am the needle and I am the wool
unyielding in its refusal to accept that it must welcome the
viciousness thrust upon it to be beautiful. I am the bearer of the
wavering needle and I am the teeny-tiny kitten worthy of being mass
xeroxed and shared with the world for its charm. I am the box
yelling out CAUTION: guts needed to create, to fail, to try again and I am the
zip zero zilch sprung from the boxed chocolate set that goes untouched.
Leticia Priebe Rocha received her bachelor’s from Tufts University, where she was awarded the 2020 Academy of American Poets University & College Poetry Prize. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, she immigrated to Miami, FL at the age of 9 and currently resides in the Greater Boston area. Her work has been published in Rattle, Roi Fainéant Press, Apricity Press, and elsewhere. She can be found on Twitter @LetiPriebeRocha and on Instagram @letiprieberochapoems.