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What We Need

Karen Greenbaum-Maya
We don’t need to invent a god of the Internet. The Internet already holds divine status, is already 
omniscient, is already totally beyond our control. The Internet couples with wildebeests and 
capybaras and babirusas and jellyfish, begetting millions of offspring that can’t spell. No. What we 
need is a goddess of YARN. A goddess who can tie it all together, who can make the long, twisted 
strand into something to keep us warm, something crafty, something to admire. Who can roll all our 
strength and all our sweetness up into one ball. A goddess who can set us free, who can let it all 
unravel with a single tug, who can cut off ties that are binding when we need to be released. Not 
connections by living things like vines. You can cut those but they have a sneaky way of growing 
back, strangling new shoots all over again. No. We need clean breaks. And not too specialized. Her 
domain should include stories, far-fetched weavings of unlikely parts joined up. Like a goddess of 
surgery but without the life-and-death part. And yes, fetch the yarns from afar. And while we’re at 
it, she should also be goddess of cat toys. We need more cat toys, more ideas, more 
understanding of What Cats Want. Let there be YARN.
Library Staff
Why I chose this poem: 
I chose this poem because I like the contrast between the digital world of information and a divine being who crafts it all together in a tangible way. I feel the longing for things that fit the categories of "keep us warm, something crafty, something to admire." I also second the poet's pro-cat agenda. :)
Karen Greenbaum-Maya