The Hands That Hold
Harvests of earth, silence, and time
I have learned the art of gathering —
not only apples bruised with sweetness,
not only grain folded like gold into sacks,
but also the moments that slip
like minnows through the fingers.
I gather silence from a room
after laughter has left it.
I gather the smell of rain
as it lifts from the pavement.
I gather words that were almost spoken,
fragments left behind
like torn edges of letters.
My grandmother gathered differently.
She bent to the earth with patience,
cupped tomatoes as if they were small suns,
stacked jars in the cellar,
their lids shining like coins.
Her gathering was survival,
but also devotion —
to the idea that nothing good should be wasted.
I carry her lesson into the invisible.
I collect the faces of friends
I have not seen in years,
the sound of their names
still warm on my tongue.
I store them in jars of memory,
tight-sealed,
ready to be opened when winter comes.
To gather is not to hoard.
It is to honor.
It is to touch each fragment,
to say: you matter,
you are part of the whole.
So I keep gathering —
the late light on a wooden floor,
the hush of dusk before snow,
the pulse of a hand I once held.
And one day,
when my own hands falter,
I hope someone will gather me, too —
not for keeping,
but for remembering.
About the Creator
Alain SUPPINI
I’m Alain — a French critical care anesthesiologist who writes to keep memory alive. Between past and present, medicine and words, I search for what endures.
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'20/20'
"Do It Again" the track that would ultimately open the Beach Boys final album on Capitol Records which was released on February 10th 1969 had originally been released as a single in August of 1968. The track was the first of many post-Pet Sounds era throwbacks to the early Beach Boys sound which would become continually more cliched and eventually lead the Beach Boys to the level of self-parody they would eventually succumb to in the 1980s while their closest contemporaries The Beatles nearing the end of their run in 1969 would go on to be viewed as the most influential band of all time. However, the song itself is not bad on its surface, and it opens with a futuristic sounding (for 1969) drumbeat captured by then-Beach Boys engineer Stephen Desper using tape delays on the drums performed by Dennis Wilson and John Guerin. The song has been re-recorded numerous times over the years on various Beach Boys-related projects most notably the 2011 re-recording at Capitol studios featuring the five surviving Beach Boys at the time backed instrumentally by various members of both the Brian Wilson Band and Mike Loves touring "Beach Boys" to promote the then upcoming Beach Boys 50th Anniversary reunion tour in 2012. The hammering and power drill sound at the end of the song was an excerpt from a track called "Workshop" that was to be a part of the uncompleted "SMiLE" album.
By Sean Callaghan6 days ago in Beat
Comments (2)
I am drawn in the connection between you gathering and keeping and your grandmother harvesting and canning. "I am learning" and "I carry her lesson" and "a hand I once held" tie the thoughts together. This poem feels warm like the end of summer. I really like it!
To gather is to honor and remember. What a beautiful sentiment. 👏👏