A Response to “Hand in Hand”

by dipankar (দীপংকর)

Hand in Hand

I read “Hand in Hand” carefully and used my limited knowledge to appreciate its structure. The word “hand” in the title keeps repeating through the prose and poetry part, reminding me about the message of the title. The very first poem has the word “hand” in line two. It reappears in line two of the fifth poem. And the whole fragment “hand in hand” shows up in the prose following the fifth poem. The seventh poem brings up “hand” again from a totally different perspective. “Hand in hand” comes up one more time in the final prose bit and is immediately followed by “hand” in the last poem. The juxtaposition of these last two uses of hand is striking. The contrast between horrifying death and peaceful living for two loving couples. I find the repetitive use of “hand” in the composition thought-provoking, but I am also asking myself if the title could appear through the body in a more suggestive manner. This is very difficult for a novice like me and I will not pursue the point.

Regarding the prose alone. I think “disintegrate into a catastrophic heap of pulverized dust” could sound better simply as “disintegrate into a heap of dust”. Not a criticism, but only a passing thought.

The “burrito shop” prose bit is visually powerful. What makes the terror agonizing is the news in Spanish, which the poet doesn’t know perfectly. “Without knowing what he was saying, I felt the cold rush of wind, imagined the dreadful panic . . .” is very effective. This paragraph is a powerful sense-switching exercise. What makes it terrifying is the foreign language. Appears to emphasize the senselessness of killing innocent people who do not know any politics, but whose lives are governed by politicians. Not long ago this happened in a smaller scale in India to happy tourists. It’s happening right now in a heart-rending manner in the middle east.

Horror tale though it is, I liked this tanka prose, though I want to understand the form more deeply. As I read the piece, I could really see it all, the irony of “falling to one death to escape another.” And over time I will think more about the forward and backward linkages. But I think it worthwhile pointing out here that the “spreadsheet crash” poem is a great shift exercise. Provides temporary relief at least for the reader, but it can also be interpreted as the indifference of nature to man-inflicted barbarism. Perhaps one more poem like this one, a few paragraphs down, could have added to the richness of the work.