As though they were your own,
you know the sloping lines
and dry patches in your father´s palms.
The calluses on his fingertips
like small coins hidden in the skin.
You know the crevice of a scar
between two right knuckles
and the dark pattern of hairs above.
He has given you tools and shaped
your fingers around them
to show you their uses,
mussed your hair and passed you
countless baskets of bread.
As a baby you clutched his rough finger
the way birds wrap their feet
around branches to stand.
Now he comes to you saying,
“Walk with me to the mountain"
and holds out his hand.









Ona Gritz's second book for children, Tangerines and Tea: My Grandparents and Me, was named Best Alphabet Book of 2005 by Nick Jr. Family Magazine. She is the winner of the 2007 Inglis House Poetry Contest. Her poems have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals, including Paterson Literary Review, Moment, The American Voice, Poetry East, Flashquake, Lily, Apple Valley Review, The Barefoot Muse, Schuylkill Journal of the Arts, Ekphrasis, Tattoo Highway, where she was awarded first prize in poetry in their August 2005 Picture Worth 500 Words contest, and Literary Mama, where she is also a columnist. Her chapbook of poems, Left Standing, was released by Finishing Line Press in 2005.
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