Gordian Knot

It’s mythic, it’s recursive, it’s weird, it’s dark

…

I tug on the spooled threads and start

to work. The loom stands empty. I wrap

a sinewy thread around the loom and pull

it tight. My vows are like this; there is no slack.

…

I work quickly. The shuttle clacks from side

to side —a hard heartbeat. It trails a knotted

thread. The knots are tight and, if I am

not careful, a thread may encircle a wrist,

…

becoming a rosary, each knot a prayer, each

a vow to be prised apart with teeth bared, lest

the circle tighten and cut off hot blood.

Vows are like that. It’s hard to breathe.

…

I pray. I bring the throttling thread to my face

and work at it with my teeth, but the sky will

not yield, and the vows cut into bare

flesh — a closed circle is a world-in-itself.

…

An unfinished tapestry tells only half a

story. The many threads lie impotent,

mute. The many vows writhe into vengeful

tangles. A Gordian-knotted circlet, immune to

the knife in my boot.

…

---

…

You might also like the doctrine piece Nonexistence is Mandatory or the recursive Sisyphus and the Hill.