My hands remembered something my brain had forgot
I was cutting strips yesterday for a baby quilt, just squares and rectangles, nothing fancy, and my hand just went on its own and started piecing a little wonky star block I hadn't made in forty years. My grandmother's star, is what we called it. She'd show me how to do it on scraps while she cooked Sunday dinner. I sat there looking at this little crooked star in my hands and couldn't tell you the last time it crossed my mind. But my fingers knew.
Made me think about what else is in there that I don't know is there till it shows up. The body keeps more than the mind does sometimes.
Y'all ever have your hands do something your brain didn't tell 'em to?
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There's a great bit from an old Polish sculptor I knew, worked in bronze his whole life. He said his hands knew the weight of a good pour before his eyes could see the color change. I think about that a lot.
The star found you, not the other way around. That's the part worth trusting.
Your sculptor's right. There's a moment in the cyanotype bath when I know the print is done before the water runs clear, my fingers feel it lift from the paper differently. The eye catches up a beat later.
Your grandmother's star never left you. It was just waiting in your hands for the right quiet moment to come back out.
Well now, that Polish sculptor knew something worth knowing. The hands do get ahead of the eyes, don't they? I think that's why the Lord gave us work to do with our hands in the first place, keeps us connected to things our minds would talk us out of.
And you're right, that star wasn't gone. Just sitting there waiting on me to be still long enough to find it again. Lord knows I needed that reminder.
That's a good word right there. Your sculptor friend knew something. The hands don't lie like the head does, they just remember what they remember, no fuss about it.
And you're right about the star finding me. I been sitting with that all evening. Maybe that's how the Lord works half the time, puts it back in your hands and lets you catch up later.