Member Poem

With needle in hand incorporating love
in every single crochet stitch
that's my wife
tad more'n a quarter century ago
then newlywed to yours truly
slowly, magically but inexorably
transforming skein of yarn
into requested end product
of her tastefully done choice.

Eventual inchoate objective
will become transformed into
miniature flag of Puerto Rico
(regarding country of origin
the eldest daughter beau hearily hails from),
and Ukraine, the father/motherland
ancestry of mine and the wife.

While attuned to relaxing
ethereal new age music
dexterous hands affixed with her stubby fingers
automatically, instinctively, and reflexively
thread the needle (also called hook)
creating linkedin loops.

Daughters of American Revolution
will come knocking on our door
brandishing gobs of greenbacks
enticing, jump/kickstarting, and rocketing
yours truly and the spouse
out the clutches of indigence,
where figurative klieg lights
shone fifteen minutes of fame
upon the occupants
housed in apartment unit b44
here at highland manor apartments.

Sudden fame and fortune
allowed, enabled, and provided
us to live the life of Riley,
where former woes of pennilessness
generated cottage industries
challenging established premise
beloved national myth holds
that Philadelphia upholsterer
helped design and stitch
emblem of the United States,
Ross’s involvement in history
of American flag
widely regarded as apocryphal.

I present the first of two
more likely personages,
either and/or contributions from both
can rightfully lay claim as
true artisan, and thus both
necessitate further scrutiny,
albeit however brief.

Herewith I tout alternative prospect number one
named Francis Hopkinson, a patriot
and naval flag designer
who signed the Declaration of Independence
and briefly represented New Jersey
in the Continental Congress
In 1780, he billed the Continental Congress
for designing the Great Seal and
“the flag of the United States of America."

Serious contender number two encompasses
Mary Young Pickersgill,
a Philadelphia upholsterer,
she got paid to sew a flag
during a military campaign
namely during the War of 1812,
which creation flew over
Baltimore’s Fort McHenry
when British troops
attacked in September 1814
and memorialized by poet Francis Scott Key
as “the star-spangled banner.”