Vicki Gunter
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"Have You Heard Us Yet?"

6/10/2018

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Jeanie Ngo's poem Soft Hands which I interpreted in clay. See all the details of this amazing show @ Abrams Claghorn Gallery
​

Soft Hands 

My mother likes to say I have soft hands.
And I reply that I’ve never known hard, manual labor.
We laugh.

We press our hands together in place of our hearts.

I wish she knew the beauty in her hardened mountain palms,
dancing needle and thread fingers,
moon yellowed nails.

She sees her hands.

I see her digging through the rubble of the
My Lai massacre of her hometown.
I see her hands begging for one scoop of plain white rice,
the daily rations on a ship that brought her from
one war torn country to another war torn country.
I see her hunched over a sewing machine at four in the morning,
piecing together tiny sequined outfits for strippers,
trying to cobble together a living.
I see her peeling mangoes, nectarines, clementines,
pomegranates, grapefruits, and always offering
me the sweetest piece.
I see her in front of the altar, praying to every god
that her daughter will have an easier life than hers.

My mother likes to say I have soft hands.

It is because hers have shielded me the best they could
from the pain of warfare, the pain of starvation,
the pain of humanity itself.
My mother likes to say I have soft hands.
And I reply that I’ve never known hard, manual labor.
We laugh.
Picture
Artist’s Talk:
Wednesday June 20, 5 -7 pm

Poetry Evening:
Wednesday June 27, 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Featuring Poetry by:
Jeanie Ngo, Claire J. Baker, Lori Lynne Armstrong, Janis Hashe, Vicki Gunter, Becky Bishop White, Sandra Anfang, Kelliane Parker, Tiffany Higgins, and Nicole Rubio.
New & Original Artworks by:
Rena Charles, Julianne Sterling, Hope Armstrong, Hellenmae, Mary Andersen, Ceci Bowman, Carol Jenkins, Kirsten Piroth, Kaitlin McSweeney, Mojgan Saberi, Nour, Vicki Gunter, Suzanne Long, Anna Vaughan, and Leah Tumerman.
1 Comment
Deep Cleaning Ironville link
9/5/2022 09:01:56 am

Very thoughtfful blog

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