Dec 20, 2009

A Pale Arrangement of Hands | A Pale Arrangement of Hands

At a glance:

Author: Cathy Song
First Published: 1983
Type of Work: Poem
Genres: Poetry
Subjects: Mothers, Parents and children, Asian Americans, Hawaii

“A Pale Arrangement of Hands,” also from Picture Bride, begins with the poet sitting at the kitchen table listening to the all-night rain. Seeing her own hands on the table, she remembers her mother's hands, which always seemed nervous “except when they were busy cooking”: “Her hands would assume a certain confidence/ then, as she rubbed and patted butter/ all over a turkey as though/ she were soaping and scrubbing up a baby.” The poet further recalls that her mother used to describe the rain in Hawaii as “liquid sunshine” to her three children. Further...

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A Pale Arrangement of Hands | A Pale Arrangement of Hands

At a glance:

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