Pins

Heather Christle

A title cando many kindsof work. Insome cases itacts as a labelfor its contentsas when mysister's husband'sgrandmother(a simpler titleis Fran) wroteon a smallcardboard boxthe word PINSwhich namedthe sharp linesshe kept insidewhose workincludes holdingcloth togetherand taking littlepricks of bloodfrom a hand.When she movedinto the nursinghome they kepther belongingsin the basementof my sisterwaiting forsomethingto change andwhen Fran diedand my sisterwent downto the basementwith her childto be amongthe things thatremained sheopened the boxand the pinsall spilled tothe floor andwhen my sisteris gathering linesin her handwhich yesterdayheld Fran'sthe box is stilltitled PINS butnow it is doingdifferent work.

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Photo of Heather Christle (from P Foundation)
Photo:
Dennie Eagleson

Heather Christle is the author of four poetry collections, most recently Heliopause (Wesleyan University Press, 2015). Her first work of nonfiction, The Crying Book (Catapult, 2019), won the Georgia Book Award for Memoir, and has been translated into seven other languages. She teaches creative writing at Emory University.

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