Literary Orphans

Two Pairs of Hands by Simon Mermelstein

 

“Before shaking hands with a prospective customer, he would conceal a glob in his palm. The victim would pull his hand back in horror, but then discover, as he wiped it off, that he could see clean skin, sometimes for the first time in years.”  -David Owen, “Hands Across America”, The New Yorker, 3/4/13

 

1.

 

hard work and violence

have the same effects on hands.

crackled callus. rough knuckles.

skin sacrifice.  wrought honor.

hard-squeeze handshake.

dukes up.  settle this.

heavy bag.  taped up.

hit the dirt.  beneath nails.

blue 42.  glory days.

stick shift.  pay at the pump.

brown baggin’.  nicotine sticky.

sandpaper pages.   blister every day

 

 

  1. (after Jon Sands and Angel Nafis)

 

i stay dove.  i wash

clean every day.

i steer clear of grizzle.

i kid gloves.  i purell, not that cheap shit.

i devil’s playthings.  i proud

of softness.  i papercut flinch.

i pay the mechanic

to get his hands dirty cuz I don’t know how.

i Curly from Of Mice And Men.

i literary reference.  i try

not to look down on.

handyman reads Sartre too.  we can chat about it

during cigarette breaks.  i don’t smoke cigarettes.

i chapped cuticles.  i dislike physical

discomfort.  i fear arthritis

when i’m older, but not as much as dementia.

i’m thankful for brain making a living.

i wash clean every day.

O Typekey Divider

Simon Mermelstein’s poetry appears/is upcoming in The Atlanta Review, RHINO, Spillway, Cleaver, The MacGuffin, FreezeRay, Mobius, Light, Third Wednesday, The Lost Country, Poems-For-All, Parody, and the nebulous “other places”. A Pushcart nominee, he’s made it to Slam Finals and given feature readings in both Ann Arbor and Detroit.  His first chapbook, Zero One: Poems for Humans (2013, Zetataurus Press) has sold upwards of 73 copies.  In his spare time, he enjoys winning slams and getting published.   simonmermelstein.wordpress.com

20121216_122800

O Typekey Divider

–Background Art by Barbara Florczyk

Best Nike Sneakers | Air Jordan 4 – Collection – Sb-roscoff