Our Lady of the Third Arm

Our Lady of the Third Arm

Our Lady of the Third Arm,
of the extra appendage, she
uses the surplus limb solely

for holy activities, needlework,
piano, kneading of dough
that becomes wholesome bread.

Without that middle hand,
she’d be a hell of a lot less
holy, ordinary as a book

falling open to the part
where the heroine has just
grown up, where she is

meeting the lover who
will hurt her thirty pages
later. When she was young,

Their Girl of the Third Arm,
they cooed Saint into her crib,
encouraged her to draw

centerhandedly, painted her nails
with rosy pink, fifteen shells
shining at the ends of her hands,

fifteen fingers spread to be
exclaimed over, knuckles like
eyes halfway up each digit.

Our special little lady,
where would she be without
that third arm, God forbid.