Potter’s Hands, photograph by Kathy Goodson

Jane Shlensky
CREATION
after “Potter’s Hands” by Kathy Goodson

Your hands
are potter’s hands,
deny them if you will
their history of skin,
sound sinew, soft snare.

Your long fingers
take earth to task,
smooth it to service,
palms cupped in clay
creating vessels
that last and remember,
round-lipped, well-gripped
spouts and ears,
a lap of bowl, all
excess squeezed away
to make room
for emptiness.

I watch you work,
your encircling arms
and bend of neck,
your face peaceful
with unknowing,
and I fancy I am clay
beneath your hands,
that thoughts knead you
as you knead me,
that images whirl and blur
as possibilities move
beneath your hands

where shoulders, breasts,
chins, lips, and eyes
emerge from dust,
take in your breath,
and worlds are formed.

Jane Shlensky reads her work at the June 20, 2015 Art of Poetry event at Hickory Museum of Art. Photo courtesy of Roger and Ginny Sanford.

Jane, along with Nancy Posey, coordinates the Fall Face To Face poetry gathering which will be September 18 and 19, 2015 at the museum. Keep an eye on our special page in the right margin for more details.