I
My mother knitted and stitched

her self into history

her handwork a primary source

soft proof of a life

the silk nightie      French seamed

with an applique neckline

my infant bonnet       wedding dress

a fancy laced bib

for my daughter.
I count rows and stitches

knit and purl my way

into this modern history

a turquoise pixie hat

the tiniest pink cardigan in cashmere

and merino           a striped blanket

I click clack with inherited needles

a pair matched in size not colour

the rest dormant and disorderly

in their wooden box

with gold hinges and no lid.
A stray hair in the garment

it can stay   DNA

in the knit (K)1      purl (P) 1

K 2 together (tog).
II
The artist* performs her craft

and her benign activism attracts a crowd

she draws the thread from the ball

inside her vagina and resettles

into the rhythm of knitting. 
She labours quietly for twenty-eight days

the work is demanding

her attachment to it confining

though at times

the pull of wool arousing.
Her menstrual cycle is

pinked in the textile

a feminine narrative unravelled

her bloodline woven into fabric

the slide of stitches slowed

by the moisture of the yarn
The improbable scarf loops through

floating coathangers in the gallery.
Her performance is filmed

the video goes viral

the public is disgusted

in the knit (K)1      purl (P) 1

it can stay, DNA

K 2 together (tog)

a stray hair in the garment.
III
My grand maternity materialises

in the knit     pink

stitch after stitch slipped

as I cast off.
The seams are sewn

my lips dampen the thread

I press the end

between thumb and index

and pass it through

the eye of the needle.
This soft labour embodies me

creates my daughter and hers

reproduces my mother and hers

our bloodline in the garment

saliva on the yarn, mine

recalls the thread and the artist’s vagina

as she cast off her womb.
My stray hair in the knit one (K1), purl one (P1)

produces a new heirloom

my DNA     it can stay

this cardigan my doing and undoing,

me casting off.


Casey Jenkins, Casting off the Womb, performance piece first performed at the Darwin Visual Arts Association (DVAA) from October

to November, 2013.