How I fuelled a rumour about myself

I shared a thought with someone

Who delicately embroidered

its cold, spare truths

and gave to someone else

Who then

Examined it so keenly.

that it came apart

until it was a flimsy thing

held together by fraying threads

Of gossip

That had to be patched up

With more hearsay

To form a robust whisper

That gathered momentum

Until

One day

Someone I know said,

“Congratulations!”

I didn’t know what for

But I thanked them anyway.

Turning my own thought

Into a wild rumour.