When was the last time that you shook someone’s hand? Was it yesterday or was it over two years ago? It has now become a rare sight to see two people shaking hands. Nowadays, it is just a nod or a thumbs-up, which implies “I am okay, you look okay too, and it is good to see you.”
The virus is still present in the world, so we need to be safe. It may be another two years before we can go back to the human touch of a handshake. I have found over the course of the last year and a half, the growth of the “handshake of communication”.
The first sentence of a book is a handshake, perhaps an embrace.
-Jhumpa Lahiri
Though we have all been apart for over a year, we humans have still been communicating and exchanging ideas across the internet. Communication has not stopped or slowed, in fact, there has been more communication between hearts and minds over the last couple of months than there has been over the last decade.
Use this prompt on “The Handshake”, to open your imagination and creativity. You and every writer on Medium are welcome to start writing and creating with this prompt today. There is no time limit. Write a story, article, or poem based on this prompt, about “The Handshake.” You are welcome to “tag” me when you publish your literary prompt on the idea of “The Handshake”.
Only truthful hands write true poems. I cannot see any basic difference between a handshake and a poem.
-Paul Celan