Amie Whittemore

Amie Whittemore

Earth, Air, Fire, Water

Earth speaks to a palm and belongs to people.
Earth appears full, a solidness, loyal as employees.
Earth is rare, the same as the palm,
thin when viewing it, pure, likely, but not all.
~
Air is at its finest and long when it belongs to air.
Hands often belong to people, but have a wide grasp of the world.
Air can be just as intelligent as aggressive.
Sure as hands, strong air can be sensitive but with these hands
air is extremely soft-looking, it carries everything—as if air.
~
Fire is either wider at the bottom or tapering as it travels.
Fire is not common. It belongs to troublemakers
with boundless energy. Don’t pen it.
When the palm is full, ideas and energy smoke.
Restlessness, the fire. It has the true dreamer
always clicking. Fire is often unable to cope.
~
Water is soft-looking. With water, hands have
a great color; the hand needs water in all its forms.
Water can be easily intimidated, swayed by feelings.
Sometimes, with other fierce water, a blend—
generous, tender, but not lazy in anger.
~
Both men and women are water, air, earth, fire.
Some can give heart that’s still damp or hot.
Those with firm wants held too long
feel insecure. Women are their handshakes.
A man’s grip shows when it lasts.
People are open practice.

Source & Method:

From Discover Yourself Through Palm Reading by Rita Robinson (New Page Books, Franklin Lakes, NJ: 2002.) Each poem is drawn from a specific chapter, which is sometimes reflected in the title, sometimes not. The words appear in the order they were found in the chapter, though, obviously, with many words omitted in between.

Amie Whittemore is the author of the poetry collection Glass Harvest (Autumn House Press), the 2020-2021 Poet Laureate of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow.

 

Issue 25

Amie Whittemore

4 Palmistry Poems

The Problem of Handedness

When humans began
to hunt and forage,
it was necessary to develop
one or the other hand.
The brain followed suit.
When humans began
talking, it caused the body.
That’s only a theory:
words make up
seven percent of body.
So, take your theories:
What is certain?
What causes handedness?
The older meanings scar:
left-handed marriage,
left-handed wife, left side of the bed.
A left-handed person might
baptize these connotations
if the left hand contains
a troubled childhood.
Both hands can spur
a picture, perfectly drawn.

 

Issue 25

Amie Whittemore

4 Palmistry Poems

Hands Reveal Genetic Influence

Not just the physical self. The connection between—
hands, consciousness, hair, eye color, body shapes.
The child behaves or reacts,
a person likes or dislikes: an inherited trait.
Some people need the ride.
~
On a bench at the Chicago library, I was struck by
the way they held their heads. Their faces both wore
their gestures. So taken by them,
I asked if they laughed. I asked if I could take—
nearly in unison, I would have asked to take their hands.
~
Far more than we think, far more than we suspect—
we never really know someone else.
The living and dead will show up in our hands.
~
Thus, we breathe our first breath. A single marking. A story.
There is not a lone gene: interaction determines life.
~
We can inherit a morning or an evening.
We often become more aware, prone to illness or receding, as we age.
The chosen is wishful thinking. A woman may have liked more.

 

 

Issue 25

Amie Whittemore

4 Palmistry Poems

Introduction to Palmistry

When someone asks fate, the hands provide
desires rather than a path. Once to take.
A certain road. Sometimes we fail.
Life is our failures.
Palmistry serves as a guide, fluid, true.
The reading does not answer the questions:
Perhaps a woman discovers a desire.
Maybe a man has dreamed.
The hand shows the palmist that struggle will be necessary.
Often, all along, waiting for want only.
Palmistry is not about how long we live.
How many lovers we have. It speaks to whether or not—
there are no bad hands. Say a person likes traits
that could be seen as undesirable. Those who enjoy
can see others in light. We can move beyond miserable.
After reading hands I’ve found people are far more
rough-cut. Diamonds. Palmistry allows the polishing.
Studying the hand often we observe love.
Studying the hand we can find the nature of others.
Aware of inborn and acquired self,
we repeatedly blossom as we age. In the hand, believe.

Issue 25