A belated return to my publishing history ...

In the winter of 1993-94, I had another piece of prose poetry published in Scrivener, a quarterly published at McGill University.  Titled, "green thread", this (along with "guilt") is one of my favorite pieces of writing.  Sadly, that was 18 years ago ...
Here it is:

green thread

my buttons are falling off, clattering, rattling here and there hollow on the linoleum.

i am of the belief that these falling buttons, like the hairs that show up in my hand when i rub my head, are a sign. everything is a sign: no effect without a cause; a place for everything and everything in its place. (breed one part righteous Scottish Protestantism with one part Highland insanity; add German and English to taste, and a taste for liquor -- a place for everything.)

i sew my buttons back on, when i can find them, with green thread so that they'll grow on the garments i wear, so that they'll grow on me, giving me fasteners for the things that are misplaced, slip through my fingers, for the moments that got away leaving no scars where they penetrated; here i could hook on a childhood (a satchel of elusive memories), there i'd place a missing trinket, my glasses, keys, wallet; i'd get them all back, gather them up like the displaced buttons and fasten them to my body with needle and thread, and time would never hurt me again.