Poem-A-Day: The Artist's Hand by D. A. Powell

October 8, 2013 The Artist's Hand by D. A. Powell     Nailbeds pink, deeper pink toward the cuticles,       cuticles a little rough, but clean.                 Obsessively clean. A little yellowing under the edges of the nails,          the fingers boney, bowing, and large knuckles where skin bunches like roses puckered on fabric.                  A hand in need of moisturizer. A sanitized hand. A worried hand? Hands don't worry. Spots that change. One that elongates into a question mark.                 Well, hasn't that hand done something?                                  It is a form of making when it makes. But mostly the hand is an idle thing       & therefore available for scrutiny unlike the artist himself, his stillness a form of motion,           intent upon a subject so close to his heart                  that he must hold it out, away from all other limbs                  and parts of the body, to see it as itself, a hand, agent of the mind and yet separate from all thought.             All his effort goes into the hand, and through the hand                       makes visible the scale of imagination, so that             what's left is not the hand                        but its testament.             Copyright © 2013 by D. A. Powell. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem "'The Artist's Hand' is a tribute to sculptor Mark di Suvero, whose work may be seen at Chrissy Field in San Francisco and adjacent to AT&T Park." --D. A. Powell Most Recent Book by Powell Useless Landscape, or a Guide for Boys (Graywolf Press, 2012)   Poem-A-Day Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-A-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Browse the Poem-A-Day Archive.   D. A. Powell is the author of five books of poetry, including Useless Landscape, or a Guide for Boys (Graywolf Press, 2012). He teaches at the University of San Francisco.  Related Poems After the Grand Perhaps by Lucie Brock-Broido Out-of-the-Body Travel by Stanley Plumly A Hand by Jane Hirshfield __________________________ Love reading Poem-A-Day? Help support it today.     Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

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