Claire Bateman
sFSTG
Spontaneous facial self-touch gestures (sFSTG) are performed manifold every day by every human being, primarily in stressful situations.
—NIH
“Don’t touch your face,” warn public officials seconds before touching their faces.
—Washington Post 3/05/2020
But even in utero, that most sequestered space,
they seek each other out, the hands and face,
availing as our merest human art:
to touch the face as though to soothe the heart.
—Submitted on 05/07/2020
Claire Bateman is the author of eight poetry collections, most recently Scape (New Issues Poetry and Prose, 2016). Wonders of the Invisible World! is forthcoming from 42 Miles Press and Wolfson Press. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, New England Review, New Ohio Review, Paris Review, Mudlark, and other journals. Also a visual artist, Bateman lives in South Carolina.
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