This poem, “Handprint My Heart,” was made with the intent of exposing the beauty of individuality as well as the similarity between all people. These are two concepts that are often talked about, but rarely within the same realms of conversation. “Handprint My Heart” is a poem that pleads for one to express who they are, and in doing so, proposes a hope that individuals in a community can come together in an undeniable harmonious state of being. This poem is centered around the genuine belief that it is possible for people of all sorts of backgrounds to find friendship, inspiration, and ultimately happiness amongst themselves.

“Handprint my Heart” by Alyssa Skites

Cover me in the paint of your hands.

Print the pattern of your fingers onto my skin.

Stain your presence on my face, your thoughts on my cheeks.

Tattoo me with everything you are, everything that you want to be.

Give me something that I will see forever,

Something permanent, something indefinite.

I want to memorize the lines of your palm, not the shape of your hand.

Allow me to see your flaws, the details of your wonderfully beaten hands.

Convince me of the beauty you choose to hide.

Enrapture me without ignominy.

Show me that you are not ashamed of the dissimilarity of our thumbs.

Teach me that our prints are different, but our colors are the same.

Manifest your individuality when you place your hand upon mine.

Allow the lines of our lives to overlap with one another.

Enable their paint to meet in the creases of our pasts.

Let their enjoinment symbolize our future,

Their mixture an emblem of our connection.

Believe that I see you with color,

A color that does not reflect your label or fabricate your being,

But rather a color that transmits who you are.

A color that has linked you to me, and me to you.

A color that has imprinted my heart.

And never shall it fade.