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Laura Hurwitz's avatar

What a gorgeous piece, Katie, just radiant, and I thought I'd answer your brilliance with some of Margaret Atwood's- her poem "You Begin." In their fullness, they conjure each other.

You begin this way:

this is your hand,

this is your eye,

that is a fish, blue and flat

on the paper, almost

the shape of an eye.

This is your mouth, this is an O

or a moon, whichever

you like. This is yellow.

Outside the window

is the rain, green

because it is summer, and beyond that

the trees and then the world,

which is round and has only

the colors of these nine crayons.

This is the world, which is fuller

and more difficult to learn than I have said.

You are right to smudge it that way

with the red and then

the orange: the world burns.

Once you have learned these words

you will learn that there are more

words than you can ever learn.

The word hand floats above your hand

like a small cloud over a lake.

The word hand anchors

your hand to this table,

your hand is a warm stone

I hold between two words.

This is your hand, these are my hands, this is the world,

which is round but not flat and has more colors

than we can see.

It begins, it has an end,

this is what you will

come back to, this is your hand.

Katherine Zuber's avatar

Ohhhh Laura I have never heard this poem before, and it is now one of my favorites. I have always thought in color - associating places, emotions, actions with colors. I love Margaret Atwood and I love you!

Laura Hurwitz's avatar

Awwwww Katie! You are the best. I'm so glad you love the poem- it reminds me of you, actually. I can imagine you saying it to Ollie. XO

Carol Collier's avatar

Time is a wonder, fluid and shifting. A song popped into my mind , which I cannot listen to without tearing up. Jim Croce, a little corny and so poetic.

“ if I could save time in a bottle, If words could make wishes come true, then I’d save every day till eternity passes away, just to spend it with you.” For my sister.

Katherine Zuber's avatar

Oh mom this made me tear up. I will play this beautiful song and think of you and aunt Kathy, writing literature quotes on the closet walls. I love you so much.