Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Absent and a Little Late

The Hand
Mary Ruefle
The teacher asks a question.
You know the answer,
you suspect you are the only one in the classroom who knows the answer,
because the person in question is yourself,
and on that you are the greatest living authority,
but you don’t raise your hand.
You raise the top of your desk and take out an apple.
You look out the window.
You don’t raise your hand and there is some essential beauty in your fingers,
which aren’t even drumming,
but lie flat and peaceful.
The teacher repeats the question.
Outside the window,
on an over hanging branch,
a robin is ruffling its feathers and spring is in the air.

I chose this poem, because I thought it was interesting how the author describes the student, debating on whether or not to raise their hand. Sometimes I think the same way.

The title of "The Hand" is fitting, because it is the subject of the poem, yet it is not a living person, it is a controlled appendage.

One of my favorite lines of this poem is:
"You don’t raise your hand and there is some essential beauty in your fingers,
which aren’t even drumming,
but lie flat and peaceful."
It gives the hand a sort of personification, but not completely, which is why I find it intriguing. At the end of the poem the author identifies the robin on the branch, focusing your attention on that one small detail. It's description is so vivid, you can picture it clearly.

The tone of this piece seems calm, and laid back. It is slow and easy, it has a legato feel to the rhythm of the words and phrases.

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