Dad has creases on his hands so thick they could split with a
poke. He gestures for me to try so I do. His skin bends on a
hinge and out spills every good and bad thing: cattails from our
driveway in Peace River, oil underground, rocks too smooth to
be useful. It washes out the floor so I watch and wade in.
Mom would never spill her hands like that. You could spend
all day turning them over looking for a way in and never find
it. Anything she holds dissolves into her muscles, flows clear
through her veins like consommé. She tries to teach me to hold
my hands shut too, to give them nothing.
I have a harder time. My need is hot and thick like alphabet
soup, but I don't burst all at once. It seeps out of my fingernails
first, my pores, then everywhere. Wracked and dripping, I float
into myself while mom combs it away. Tells me to breathe
and remember the rules. Walk backwards down hills. Take the
elevator in a fire. Keep your hands still when they come for you.
Do you hold your hands shut, or do you let everything spill out?
- Is this poem talking about something literal being spilled, or is spilling a metaphor for something else—and if so, what might that something else be?
- Can you tell whether the speaker thinks spilling to be a good or a bad thing? What hints does the poem give?
- This poem contains many comparisons, some that use “like” or “as” (similes) and some that don’t (metaphors). Are there any that you found surprising or puzzling? Which ones?
- Think about the advice given by the speaker’s mother in the last few lines: two of the three rules are the exact opposite of common sense. What does that imply about the third rule, or about the reason for the advice?
- In each of the three stanzas, hands are the vessel from which something is spilled (or not spilled). How would the poem change if, instead, the vessel were an object like a bowl or cup?
- Although the parents are spoken of in the third person, they are distinct from each other and from the “I” of the speaker. Without being overly dramatic, how would you use tone or pacing in reciting this poem to distinguish the three characters (“Dad,” “Mom,” “I”)?
Writing Activity:
Write a poem with the title “How Not to ___”. As a nod to this poem, try to address the question of “how not to” indirectly, by demonstrating rather than by direct statements. See if you can approach your chosen subject from more than one viewpoint.
Useful Links:
Read a Q&A with Jessica Johns about her chapbook, “How Not to Spill,” from which this poem is excerpted.
Watch this video to hear Jessica read “How Not to Spill” and other poems about family.
Jessica Johns, "HOW NOT TO SPILL" from how not to spill. Copyright © 2018 by Jessica Johns. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Source: how not to spill (Rahila's Ghost Press, 2018)