Lovespoons

Listen to Charly read Lovespoons ☝🏼

In Welsh tradition, wooden spoons are given as love gifts.

Each one is carved from a single piece of wood,

the same way God once carved the moon.

In neurodivergent circles, spoons equal energy:

this morning I might have enough

to take a shower,

but not enough

to return my mother’s call.

Our lack of spoons is not just a metaphor—

“good” physical spoons are scarce;

give me the wrong one

and I flinch

at its awkward handle

or edge.

In 1667, an unknown carpenter

carved the first lovespoon

from sycamore, or boxwood, or applewood,

adorning it with a ball-in-cage motif:

I will keep you safe.

In 2023, I invited him to dinner.

Afterwards, he arranged the cutlery

in ascending size order.

We held hands against a tide of shoppers,

two on-the-spectrum otters

steering each other back to shore.

The first lovespoon resides

in St Fagans National Museum,

where it rests

among ancient artefacts.

Our love resides

in an untidy semi,

where we give and receive

our spoons.

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