Hi everyone!  I am pleased to present our guest blogger, Michelle, better known as “Mish” in the dVerse community for today’s Poetics!

Photo Credit:   Mish

Hello everyone!   I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a guest host for you today. After mulling over many possible ideas for this honoured occasion, I looked down at my keyboard and …voila! A poetic prompt at my fingertips….literally.

Let’s look at our hands. Do they have a story to tell?

Think about the ways we use our hands to communicate. They have a tendency to join in as we speak. Often they are the only voice we use. Sometimes they are the only voice we have. They welcome, dismiss, applaud and wipe tears. We raise our hands in frustration. We extend our hand in peace.

Consider the many symbolisms of hands. Humanitarianism, power, possession and purpose are just a few. In many Native American tribes, hand symbols were painted on war horses to represent success in battle or the fact that the horse had knocked down an enemy. The left and right hand take on opposite energies within the Chinese philosophy of yin and yang.

It was surprising to me that there are very few famous poems written about hands, considering the magnitude of their roles and figurative meanings. I was moved by a poem by John Keats where he uses a hand to speak of life and death or perhaps love and rejection. There are many interpretations but I think it is the imagery and the way he seems to leap out of his own thoughts at the end that intrigued me the most. I found it very chilling and thought provoking.

This Living Hand
by John Keats

This living hand, now warm and capable
Of earnest grasping, would, if it were cold
And in the icy silence of the tomb,
So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights
That thou wouldst wish thine own heart dry of blood
So in my veins red life might stream again,
And thou be conscience-calmed–see here it is–
I hold it towards you.

For most of us, our hands have served us well. They have carried out our work and our play. They have been a part of our accomplishments and our failures. They carefully cradled what is precious to us. So today I am asking you to write a poem that pays homage to hands. They may be your own hands, the hands of someone you love or those of a stranger. You can use hands as a symbol or a way to tell us a story. These are just some ideas, because I leave it in your hands!

Photo credit:   Mish

If you are new to the pub, this is how it works:

• Write your poem
• Post it on your blog or website
• Leave a comment below to say hello
• Click on Mr. Linky at the bottom of this post and enter your name and the direct URL of your post
• Visit other poets’ work and let them know what you thought
• Spread the word on social media with the #dVersePoets hashtag

BIO: Michelle or “Mish” is a proud Canadian residing in the beautiful province of Ontario with her husband. She is also a mother and an Early Childhood Educator. She began writing short poems and song lyrics as a teenager. Her blog, mishunderstood was the spark that rekindled her passion for writing. So far, she sees no end to the creative flow. She credits most of her inspiration to dVerse, her love of nature, music, amateur photography and the many ponderings of life.