Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Kathy CoffeyNovember 16, 2009

The birds of the hands:
feathery fingers, arms
arched in parentheses.
Breathing in rhythm,
a forest of branches,
a pod of dolphins,
steel-spined camels:
“we can be anything.”

The body a playground:
swings, loops, slides
winged postures like stars
yoga dance as of language
freed from stodgy syntax.

Breath crests; wave
spills its liquid silver.
Toes sculpt commas,
punctuate the sentence’s
coiled energy, verb-driven
to the quiet pool of rest,
curled in balls like children.
Stillness hushes
eloquence: sweet period. 

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Pope Francis greets Sister Raffaella Petrini, an Italian member of the U.S.-based Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, at the Vatican Dec. 3, 2015 (CNS photo/Vatican Media via Reuters).
The announcement came as Francis was in his bed in the Gemelli Hospital being treated for an infection of the respiratory tract. A Vatican spokesman said "the Holy Father passed a good night and slept well.”
Gerard O’ConnellFebruary 15, 2025
On “Jesuitical” this week, Zac and Ashley chat with Simon Critchley, the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York, about his new book, 'Mysticism.'
JesuiticalFebruary 14, 2025
RaMell Ross/Cinema Guild
RaMell Ross’ film ‘Nickel Boys’ is nominated for Best picture. His 2018 documentary is an attempt to express Black life and history as dynamic and vital.
John DoughertyFebruary 14, 2025
The birthplace and home from 1855–1886 of 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson (DenisTangneyJr/iStock)
By force of her imagination and skill, Emily Dickinson could take the measure of solitude, opprobrium and even damnation.
Jayme Stayer, S.J.February 14, 2025