For performances, he says, "I pancake my ribbons and apply calamine lotion to my shoes" to lessen their shine, and he uses transparent elastic (purchased in Japan) to create an unbroken line.

Itch relief is best taken care of with calamine lotion or Burrow's solution.

These hands suggest future violence but also resonate with more positive images within the poem, such as her mother's voice calling her missing child, her mother's soothing of itchy hives with calamine lotion ("as though pink can heal me"), and perhaps most importantly her mother's final tender gesture: "My girl she says and folds me in, / gives me back to darkness.