Unfettered

By Blanche Nonken

when I make a fist,
it is one
but closed.

an open hand
is potential
but empty.

grasp a flower, tool of beauty.
grasp a sword, tool of dissolution.

one finger is one,
not the three enclosed
or the four combined
conspiring to isolate the one.

one finger
one hand
one arm, one body
together with one mind, one breath

the breath
contained in the body
contained in one point

the mind
containing the universe
one universe
contained
in one finger.