Poem for the Left and Right Hands
The left hand trails in the water
The right is tying knots
The right stitches a seam
The left sleeps in the silk
The right eats
The left listens under the table
The right swears
The left wears the rings
The right wing, the right loses
The left holds the cards
The left strikes chords while the right
runs, runs up and down, up and down
and when the right can't sleep and travels
around the world against the clock
the left is buried
Oh left hand, you're so quiet
Do you have children, a dog, mistresses, debts
It's the right that buys the groceries
shifts gears
runs for high office
feeds the baby little silver spoonfuls
It's the right that grabs the knife
to hack off the left hand
The left hand waits
a blind dog
holding in its mouth
the right's glove
The knife falls, clatters
The left hand
is the right's only chance
(reprinted with thanks from both The Atlantic, and and also More Palomino, Please, More Fuchsia, Cleveland State Poetry Center, 1980)
