His Hands
Had he killed today? Cut today? Measured with uninflected pace the pacing of the dying animal? The dying animal was on his hands. Every day a new animal at his fingertips. At his mercy. At the mercy of hungry mothers that wanted to feed their crying children. Purple is how I see his hands. Through the coma and dying of the light, I looked at him. In the train station that night. I left my entire town behind. On the train platform saying goodbye one last time. On the peron. How I administer the meaning of love to him. First love, hankering for safety longing for something with an escape route built in. I loved my scarecrow-for-birds of a grandfather. I began to fall asleep on the gray seat next to him. Safety of falling. By the time I reached his age and even older, that memory allowed me to recreate his image while an ocean apart.
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This poem excerpt is from the book The Butcher’s Granddaughter by Adela Sinclair (Finishing Line Press), and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-butchers-granddaughter-by-adela-sinclair/
Adela Sinclair is a NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts) Grant winning Romanian-American poet, translator, and teacher. Fluent in English, French, and Romanian, poetry is her primary, though not exclusive, medium. Her Chapbook entitled LA REVEDERE is now available through Finishing Line Press. Her poetry explores themes of cultural identity, memory, loss, trauma, and desire. Her work appears on “The Bridge,” published by Brooklyn Poets, and Tupelo Press’ “30/30 Project.” “On April 26, 1986, Chernobyl Exploded”, Adela’s poem is published in the Winter Anthology Healing Felines and Femmes by Other Worldly Women Press. Adela is currently working with an editor on her first full-length poetry collection, “The Butcher’s Granddaughter,” a lyrical memoir of her childhood in Romania. She has performed her poetry all over New York City including the Yale Club, 92nd Street Y, Bowery Poetry Club, Poet’s House, Brooklyn Poets, Books are Magic, KGB Bar, Saint Francis College, and Writer’s Voice at the JCC. She is a founding member and poetry editor of the emerging literary magazine, “Unbound Brooklyn,” and volunteers with Ugly Duckling Presse in Brooklyn. Adela holds a BA in French Culture and Civilization from SUNY Albany, with additional coursework at the Sorbonne University of Paris, an MA in Education from Hunter College (NYC), and an MFA in Creative Writing/Poetry from St. Francis College (Brooklyn).
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