CLS Sandoval

These Strings Hold Me Together
 
Spiderwebs frosted
in the morning dew
as the sun rises
filtering the rays
yet revealing the weaver
she approaches
the center
to take her pray
 
Silkworms spin
only one single strand of silk
perhaps even a mile long
crafting their cocoons
to one day take flight
 
The embroiderer
carefully back stitches
to outline the figures
on her craft
each pull of her needle
revealing one more curve
angle
or corner
 
I sew
the splits and slits
in my skin
with this thread
at my joints and seams
slowly
carefully
pulling the insides
back into place
 
It’s all that      h          o          l           d          s          me
together



CLS Sandoval, PhD (she/her) is a pushcart nominated writer and communication professor with accolades in film, academia, and creative writing who speaks, signs, acts, publishes, sings, performs, writes, paints, teaches and rarely relaxes.  She’s a flash fiction and poetry editor for Dark Onus Lit. She has presented over 50 times at communication conferences, published 15 academic articles, two academic books, three full-length literary collections, three chapbooks, as well as flash and poetry pieces in several literary journals, recently including Opiate Magazine, The Journal of Magical Wonder, and A Moon of One’s Own. She is raising her daughter and dog with her husband in Alhambra, CA.