Isfahan, ca. 1600

The weft and warp

are wool, wool and silk

form the foundation

and pile, steeped first

in indigo, buckthorn

berries, saffron and

madder, larkspur. See

where the weaver

has plaited into

the odd Persian knot—

among the three hundred

every hour, eight

hours a day for eight

hundred days—a strand

of her own ebony hair,

how it still reflects

the sun, these centuries

later, as she must

have known it would,

must have hoped

you would imagine

her here, today, combing

each new row into

place, her eyes lifting

for a brief, capricious

look above the loom.

(from Avatar Review, 2015)