Between Our hands

By Laney Barson

Between our hands.
You say my name
slowly,
like you’re learning
the shape
of a new
constellation.
I smile,
because every
syllable
is a step closer
to me.

I take your hand
and trace
the lines on your
palm—
Soft, uncalloused,
by the stories
I carry in
my bones.

But you listen.
God, you listen.

You say you want to
understand
every part
of me—
the Spanish
that slips
out when
emotions run too
fast.

The pride.
The wounds.

The history braided
into my hair.
And I want
to understand your
world too,
the one that raised you,
the one you’re unlearning
and remaking as
you open your
heart to mine.

We meet in the middle—
between my spice
and your
softness,
between your
questions and
my stories,
Between the cultures
That shaped us
and the love
we’re shaping
now.

In that space,
Between our hands,
We build
Something whole—

Not yours,
not mine,
but ours.

held together
by the way
we choose to
understand
each other.

🩷🩷🩷

Laney Barson is a new emerging poet and writer. She is current'ly getting her BA from Western Washington University. She is currently working on her debut novel which has been her project for the last year. She hopes to share her view of romance in the world and hopes that her works can make people feel warm and fuzzy inside.