What My Hand Say

What My Hand SayWhat My Hand Say, on one hand is a bold unapologetic tribute of black people living their lives in South Carolina. While on other hand, it is a palpable reckoning with the state's weighted history. In this book, Glenis Redmond's poems span from the 1800s to the present. The impact of going from poem to poem purposely causes emotional whiplash, as if to say welcome to the volatile place, in which "I/we have always had to live."The titular poem, "What My Hand Say"...
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What My Hand SayWhat My Hand Say, on one hand is a bold unapologetic tribute of black people living their lives in South Carolina. While on other hand, it is a palpable reckoning with the state's weighted history. In this book, Glenis Redmond's poems span from the 1800s to the present. The impact of going from poem to poem purposely causes emotional whiplash, as if to say welcome to the volatile place, in which "I/we have always had to live."The titular poem, "What My Hand Say" provides a much-needed context by setting up a contractual agreement. The poet's gaze starts with her great-grandfather, Will Rogers, born in enslaved circumstances. In this poem, Redmond embodies him, to allow the reader a greater understanding of how the conditions contributed to his suffering and his illiteracy. Glenis does not stop there, as she brings his kinesthetic intelligence to life--defining him by his sense of humor and his stalwart sense of agency. He boasts, "I can make dead wood grow."Redmond takes her orders from him. She imagines his hand says, "Pick, plow push and pull." Redmond does so poetically as she speaks for him and herself. She speaks for him by doing what he could not do with his hands. She writes. This is where the poet summons power to time travel and attempts to link her torn lineage. What My Hand Say is a collective joining of hands with those whom where enslaved. They complete an unbroken linking of hands from sharecroppers to the working class, to grandmothers to Glenis's own hands as a mother, a grandmother turned activist and poet. She works across the page unapologetically addressing both personal and collective wounds, slights, injustices and hurts. She lets nobody off the proverbial hook, not even herself, as she enters through the gate of uncomfortable truths stemming from poverty, colorism, internalized hate and familial dysfunction. Yet, she dreams of a world where her grandson Julian can live in a world where "All Is Possible."