[Chelsea McClellan]

Hello Yves, Hilary, Glenn, and Max!

Thanks so much for your detailed and thoughtful feedback. I will take it all into consideration while I'm editing! (I'm rather slow on that front.)

I found your observation particularly delightful and funny, Glenn, that I had given the "N a cheerful but rather scattered personality." That sounds rather accurate to the experience I have in my mind, and when I set out to write this particular poem, I did so wondering what would happen if I wrote more like my mind thinks than usual.

Also, you were correct, Glenn, in assuming that I was alluding to the diastasis recti with "muscle-up" and that "grit" would refer to the determination, particularly of a Depression-era grandmother, who had all of these skills. I wonder if we are far enough removed from the great depression that I need to make that aspect clear, and set up the "grit" more than with just the quick mention of garden questions and recipes.

To answer just one of Max's good questions, "Is it the speaker's grandmother or mother from whom she wishes she'd learned to crochet and knit?" I would say both. It was written in response to a prompt to write about a time you did someone else's job, and I guess I was thinking about the skills/love of a thing skipping generations, or having a generation gap--if you will--while trying to be careful not to put too much blame on one person, myself or my mother, for them not getting passed down.

Thanks again, all, for your feedback.

Take care,
Chelsea