Poem
Hold: A Poem By Gowri Koneswaran we’re taught to hold hands when we cross the street or walk with our mothers in parking lots or navigate crowds with a friend and don’t want to end up alone hold hands with whomever is closest when the power goes out when the sirens scream near when the moving of men marches silences into the corner hold hands when they come calling, when they threaten, “this is necessary to teach you a lesson” or “this is necessary to protect you” hold hands when we stand still, when we walk, when we run when they tell us to surrender when they tell us to do anything hold hands when we fall from the sky, with or without parachute when we leap from tall buildings, with or without the ability to fly hold hands with the ones who don’t look like us, talk like us, believe like us hands like fragile boxes or bombs, things that could break or explode each finger a troop in the human army each gesture a shield