they were the same hand

It Was Alive, Though Differently

BY HANNAH GAMBLE

It had a secret name

which in later years came to mean

I will continue to stand here.

 

It had a food mouth

and a shrieking mouth.

 

Popular wisdom indicated

that Its hands could heat stones

and that a man could cook

meat on those stones.

 

That being said,

It had a poverty hand

and a riches hand.

 

They were

the same hand.

 

A little ways above the hands

the mouths spoke together

but for two

different reasons,

like the music was behaving

but the orchestra was broken.

 

*

 

Even in less

benevolent moments,

It was known to use Its own

body as a tent and as the gifts

inside of the tent.

 

Early people said It had a mother hand

and a father hand, and that together

they made a clapping sound.

 

Its hands delivered the children

from madness.

 

The hands saw the riverbank sliding

into the river

to make

a more shallow river.

 

They scooped the mud up.

The hands were giving thanks.

 

*

 

The hands smelled like exodus.

The hands were the law.

 

One hand grew older, and the other

hand younger.

 

They said, fairly often,

We’d like to try that again.

 

Both were restless

and wanted rest.

 

One hand said, I will go where you go,

while the other hand continued

on alone.