whole cloth

We are made of whole cloth 
by our own deft hands. Bolts 
and reams of rough cotton and 
wool, raw silk, nature. And 
nurture: spanking gorgeous 
textiles and patterns, tweed,
houndstooth, twill. We feed 

and feel this warp and weft
in us, as we grow. It shrinks
to fit until we outgrow it and 
we split. We cut and stitch 
it tight again, each time. 

It splits again. We cut and eye 
and choose and find to shape 
and make what suits our kind. 

Our kind of one, we're tailoring. 

So much whole cloth. Such styles 
and tones and forms we make 
to be, each time we grow 
and split. So to begin.