Loose Thread
Finding a loose thread in my sock,
I pulled out six miles of the Appalachian Trail,
a truckload of fellow trekkers,
a covey of campfire songs.
I pulled out an Australian Outback sunset;
handfuls of roadside raspberries;
drawn-out moans of dairy cows.
I pulled out the smile of a lover in a tent after dark.
I pulled the constellations into my life;
and before unraveling things too far,
knotted off the past in favor of today,
honoring the blister but tossing the stone.
Dave Seter is an environmental engineer, poet, essayist, and translator. He is the author of the full length poetry collection Don’t Sing to Me of Electric Fences (Cherry Grove, 2021). His new chapbook is Somewhere West of the Mississippi (Mammoth Publications, 2025). He is currently serving as Sonoma County Poet.