Art Work
First thing each morning, Susie makes the bed.
I should say, “sculpts the bed”, because she treats
this effort as a work of art instead
of just a chore. With care, she works the sheets
back into place and smooths them with her hands.
From side to side she goes, from bottom to
the top, and then steps back. From where she stands,
it looks just right—the best that she can do.
Next up, the quilt and spread the same detailed
attention garner, till they’re just the way
she wants. She steps back, takes a look: She’s nailed
it. Last, the pillows, stacked in choice array.
Like everything she does, it’s from the heart,
to gladden others with her works of art.
T. M. Moore is Principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife and editor, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
T.M. this is a great story about finding art in everyday activities. Though others may never recognize the efforts and artistic predilections, making a work of art can be satisfying to the soul.
Your poem really struck home, because what Susie does is exactly what I do every morning. I re-tighten the mattress cover and lower sheet, I pull up and smooth out the upper sheet, I set the coverlet exactly as it should be, following the pattern outlines, and then I fluff up all the pillows and set them in their proper places. Seeing the procedure described here at the SCP in sonnet form was sort of eerie.
Peterson is right. Even a small, everyday task can — if done with attention and solicitude — be a work of art.
Thanks, friends. And thanks, Evan, for the better title than what I suggested. It’s too bad that “art” has become separated not only from “work” but from the everyday lives of most people, who make art and beauty daily, but just don’t recognize it as such.
An interestingly unique piece. Am I going too far to say the form of the sonnet is a metaphor for a made bed, the rhyme words tucked in at the sides and the final couplet the pillow?
Like yourself, I’m a great fan of symmetry and of art in the symmetry all around us.
Paul: I had not thought about the sonnet that way, but it might work. There’s just so much of order, beauty, purpose, and life all around us. I want to be more attentive to it. Thanks for your encouraging words.
T.M., I love the uplifting of bed-making into a work of art, and the fact that you have memorialized it in sonnet form. I have long been a practicer of resetting the bed “just right”, beginning each inevitably chaotic day with order and perfection. Now I shall see it as something a little higher. I look forward to getting out of bed tomorrow!
Thank you. We are faced with opportunities to make beauty, show goodness, and embody truth in everything we do. If we can think about this as we’re doing things, we can find great satisfaction and delight. Go for it!
T.M., I just love this delicate tribute to the quiet artistry of daily ritual in an exquisite sonnet that elevates the mundane into something lovingly composed and genuinely beautiful. It reminds me of my grandmother patiently teaching me the meticulous art of bed-making. I hated it and embraced the introduction of fitted sheets and throw-over duvets… until now. Your words have seduced me.
Thanks for the encouragement. I love hearing Susie moving back and forth upstairs as she sculpts the bed into its proper daily beauty.
T. M., you convict me that I do not pay close enough attention to the detailed efforts my wife puts in doing her various tasks around our home and for others. Thank you for this needed reminder.