Homespun

A red-shouldered Yokohama rooster with white plumage, red-brown shoulders and a long flowing white tail in an undyed handspun cotton waistcoat, standing on a low wooden stool beside a traditional wooden spinning wheel on a shaded Indian veranda with carved wooden pillars, a loose skein of white cotton thread on the terracotta tiles, a potted tulsi plant in bright morning light beyond

The First Yard

A holiday, the shops shut, the morning free. It goes on the veranda, beside the wheel, and by noon there is a yard of thread to show for it: uneven, faintly grey and all his.

2 October 2026