13 Ways

This assignment was inspired by Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" which is a collection of 13 small poems taking different views of a blackbird. Here is a link to it: http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/stevens-13ways.html

Our assignment was to create 13 original poems about any object we wanted. I chose the hand.

Thirteen Ways of the Hand

I

If idle hands are the devil’s tools,

Does the atheist need to fear?

II

What creates the art we see?

Is it the hands or the mind,

And does it matter?

III

One beautiful wedding,

Two lovers in love,

Four hands tied to a knot,

Eight offspring created,

Ten funerals to come.

IV

With only ten fingers,

Your hands can be

The greatest lover.

V

My hands have a job to do.

To create the shadows you see,

To confuse your mind with tricks,

And to introduce myself politely.

VI

What are your hands,
Are they not simply but arm-feet?

VII

The hand has many faces.

On a killer, a deadly weapon.

On a care-giver, a life sustainer.

VIII

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

Five fingers against a palm.

IX

Through its unconscious movement,

The hand can be involved in the cruelest of crimes

X

If a man had three hands,

Would his tasks become easier?

Or would the third hand feel odd,

Out of place, ostracized,

Something that others stumble over

XI

Wet lips, piercing eyes,

Grasping hands

Object of desire

XII

Colored vines stretch outward

And upward toward the sky

Earthen hands collecting life

XIII

Snap clap snap

Drum with rhythm

The human instrument

Anyone with hands can perform