Magic Hands

e.e. cummings

his queer hands twitter before him, like foolish
       butterflies
he is the most courteous of men

Eugenio de Andrade, "Penniless Lovers"

But at every gesture they made,
a bird was born from their fingers
and, dazzled, vanished into space.


translated by Alixis Levitin
from Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry edited by J.D. McClatchy

For further hand magic see the string figures in Kay Armatage's 1983 film Storytelling available from the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (not on Amazon, yet).

And so for day 1259
25.05.2010