Until age three, she believed her parents when they said she was like everyone else and should go along accordingly. So, she did, never mind the missing toes. She walked, talked, ran, and swam. She learned to read, write, sing, and ride a bike, all ahead of schedule. And then, as the doctors had forewarned, the left leg began to outpace the right, the knee, the shinbone…

The girl was lucky, they said. Others were missing both feet. Some without an arm and a leg, both hands, both arms, or even all of their limbs. And that part, the luck, is most definitely true. 

Sandy Hiortdahl’s Hang Five explores the ties between wholeness and identity, otherness and passing, not only in our bodies but in our spirits. Who are we compared to who we’re told we are, our worst projections, our ideal selves, and our ambitions? Neither the questions nor the answers are easy, and in that way, we are alike. These poems suggest we manage to gather our luck, uncover our truth, and go along accordingly.