Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “The Sewing Box” by Carolyne Van Der Meer, first published in Poetry Pause in March 2020.

---

The Sewing Box

By Carolyne Van Der Meer

She has put it off for weeks, replacing the broken button on his jacket cuff

because of the full-to-the-brim vintage sewing box

and the à la carte bag of spare buttons and thread filaments

that have accumulated through a history of purchases

Cup of Earl Grey by her side, she finally looks in the box

a wooden accordion contraption that anyone who sews

would recognize, its tiered compartments only visible

upon lifting the twin lids and pulling them outward

Random pins and bits of tangled thread fill the slotted chambers

cards sporting extra buttons, some with fancy designer names, others not

lists of materials—100% cotton; 80% rayon, 20% nylon;

70% mohair, 30% acrylic; the indisputable 100% pure virgin wool

These breakdowns, no matter how predictable

never fail to hold her attention through the fine print as she opens

the pin tin, sorts those with coloured heads from those without

into their destinations, where you could indeed hear the pin drop

And the Kraft peanut butter jar a pudgy bear

that holds the old button collection, ones from her own small years

from which she fishes out a long ribbon of favourites

strung together by her son when he was little enough to care

military buttons, those covered in silk or flecked with gold

ones shaped like anchors, others like suns

still others with their brand stamped in thin, fine lettering—

she holds it up, this necklace of jewels, smiles, and having failed

to locate the match for the suit cuff, lowers it back into the jar,

separates iron-on tape and stretches of lace, suede elbow patches,

needle threaders with their Queen Wilhelmina faces, snipped ends from

too-long trousers, sewing machine bobbins for multi-coloured strands

Making a pile of refuse and rejects, fingers the specimens she keeps

sometimes cutting them from cardboard labels or old tags deep in the

à la carte bag, sees in them a map of choices, the wheat from chaff

the fork in the proverbial road

Some hours later when she settles on the missing button

she notes it’s not a perfect match, stitches it into place

careful to slip it partially under another button in the row of four

just like the tailors do—and seeks her husband’s approval

He nods, says quietly no one will notice

slips his hand into hers, where, despite the years

it doesn’t quite fit, and under her breath

she says, no one will notice

squeezes hard

---

Copyright © Carolyne Van Der Meer

Previously published in Journeywoman (Inanna 2017). First appeared in Poetry Pause on March 30, 2020.

Carolyne Van Der Meer is a Montreal journalist, public relations professional and university lecturer whose articles, essays, short stories and poems have been published internationally. Her five published books are: Motherlode: A Mosaic of Dutch Wartime Experience (WLUP, 2014); Journeywoman (Inanna, 2017); Heart of Goodness: The Life of Marguerite Bourgeoys in 30 Poems | Du Coeur à l’âme : La vie de Marguerite Bourgeoys en 30 poèmes (Guernica Editions, 2020; Sensorial (Inanna, 2022) and All This As I Stand By (Ekstasis Editions, 2024). Chapbook publications include One Week’s Worth but a Lifetime More (Local Gems Press, 2022) and Broken Pieces: Hospital Experiences (2023); Birdology is forthcoming from Cactus Press in spring 2025.

---

Subscribe to Poetry Pause, or support Poetry Pause with a donation today!

---