Kristen Lindquist

Close-knit

My grandmother raised a few sheep on her saltwater farm. Some summer mornings we’d herd the flock, usually three or four ewes and that year’s lambs, on a path through the woods to the rocky shore. Clambering over the cobbles was good for the ewes’ hooves, and they seemed to enjoy the change of pace from their grassy pasture. The ornery old lead sheep, the same age as I, would walk slowly over the rocks, dawdling, ignoring my efforts to shoo her along. They nibbled at salty seaweed along the water’s edge, picked out acorns, fallen from the big oaks leaning over the bluff, from among the beach stones. Fog beaded on their wool. Makes it better for sweater yarn, my grandmother would say.

seed stitch
it’s easy now to pick out
the patterns

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About the Author

Kristen Lindquist is a frequent book reviewer for Frogpond, among other journals, and coordinator for the Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Award for Haibun. Her books include island (2023, Red Moon Press) and It Always Comes Back, winner of the 2020 Snapshot Press eChapbook Award. You can read her daily haiku blog at kristenlindquist.com/blog. She lives in Midcoast Maine.

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