ABANDONED CHURCH
The men on the steps grow quiet,
and together turn their heads
when a woman passes,
her dress rising like a hand
pointing the way.
—from Rattle #44, Summer 2014
__________
Jose Angel Araguz: “These poems come from working at times in a five-line form, which I call ‘hands,’ maybe because each could be written on the palm of a hand. I consider them the poetic, unkempt nephews to Yasunari Kawabata’s ‘palm of the hand’ stories. These pieces are surprising me, pushing me to be concise and spooky, narrative and imagistic within a limited frame.”
