QuickWrite of the Day #14: Hands

"Writing can be used as a vehicle to express ourselves as we negotiate the journey through our lives” (Gallagher, 2011: p. 24)

Today’s QuickWrite of the Day:

Childhood educator Maria Montessori once said, “what the hand does, the mind remembers.” With our hands, we feel our way through life and connect with our world. Every hand tells a story. Spoken word poet Sarah Kay puts it like this in her poem ‘Hands’:

“I love hands like I love people,

they’re the maps and compasses in which we navigate our way through life,

some people read palms to tell your future, but I read hands to tell your past,

each scar marks the story worth telling, each calloused palm,

each cracked knuckle is a missed punch or years in a factory”

What stories do your hands tell? What have you held, felt, treasured or done with them? Have a go at tracing around your hand and brainstorming what your hands have touched and held in their lifetime, or over the past few weeks. Then, choose one or more of these ideas to write about. See my example above that shows one version of what this could look like. 

*Adapted from Penny Kittle’s hand mapping notebook activity.

Want more QuickWrite topics? Check out the slide deck here, or see it in presentation mode on our Resources page.

Happy writing!