igniting need for words

The book called Stitching Resistance containing my essay, "Spirit Socks" is in the design stage. I have been asked to provide photographs to accompany it if I can. Well, of course I can. I take pictures of everything! But in order to get better results than the willy-nilly research pictures I took as I wrote the piece, I drove to the Martinez Hacienda today with hopes of capturing something deeper. As I drove, car windows open to the still cool air, this lovely summer morning reminded me of other places and caught me short--I am in another place. But what is another place? Richard Hugo wrote of a Triggering Town and I guess that's what I experienced when I first came here. But that was long ago and lately I'm haunted by the past. I arrived at the Hacienda and roamed around. It is a sad and interesting place that existed way before my paltry past.

The first thing I noticed was  a combination of the past and the present. My friend and neighbor Floyd Archuleta's wire donkey sculpture, Diego, is now a permanent installation in the Hacienda courtyard.

I went into the weaving room to take pictures and then to another location where the original weaving/knitting room was purported to be. It is the room in which I spent a long weekend every September for four or five years, demonstrating sock knitting at the Taos Trade Fair. The Hacienda, among other things, was a sock knitting factory in its day. Socks were as valuable as gold in the 1800's and were a major trade item with Mexico. They were knitted by Indians and Hispanics in servitude and as I sat in that small room under the ancient ceiling of logs, straw and mud, I swear I felt the presence of knitters who came before me. Every time a bit of straw or dust drifted onto my hands I was sure they were messages from the sympathetic souls who wished me well. I wished them well, too.

In their honor, I designed thick socks in natural wool colors that I called Hacienda Socks. I haven't made them in years but suddenly felt compelled to do so. Those hacienda knitters didn't have lovely soft red yarn to work with--only natural coarse Churro sheep colors. And there were no red sheep.

The book, Stitching Resistance (published by Wellesley), will be out in the Fall. I'll keep you informed, as I have just been informed that one of my photos may be on the cover. Oh my!

Assumptions lie behind the work of all writers. 
The writer is unaware of most of them, and 
many of them are weird. Often the weirder the 
better. Words love the ridiculous areas of our minds. 
     Richard Hugo, The Triggering Town