Palm

A poem about the palm of my hand.

A map of your life, love, future,

A prediction of inevitable death

In the creases, minuscule lines and bumps,

Fields, mountains, valleys,

Freckles, veins,

The palimpsest of reminders etched in blue ink

Like towns, cities, rivers, shrinking lakes.

A microcosm,

The world of your life,

According to the woman in the turban,

Hidden in the shadows of a circus tent.

Author's Note

This was created in poetry class when we were given a poetry exercise where one half of the class was told to describe their palm literally while the other half described their palm figuratively (kind of like left and right brain). I was on the figurative side and this is what resulted from that exercise.