[4] He was educated at Northfield Mount Hermon in Massachusetts[3] and briefly attended Amherst College in 1954.
[5] He moved to San Francisco's Mission District, performing in the local poetry scene and working as a mental health counselor for the Progress Foundation.
[12] Hand co-authored an anti-war play with Nayo-Barbara Malcolm Watkins and John O'Neal entitled Ain't No Use in Goin' Home, Jodie's Got Your Gal and Gone about the Black military experience.
[22] Across his career he was a featured act at many venues including the Sonoma County Book Festival,[23] the Bay Area Poets and Music Festival at GLIDE,[24] the Petaluma Poetry Walk,[25][11] Cafe Babar,[12] the Sacramento Poetry Center,[26] the Beat Museum,[27] San Francisco Metropolitan Arts Center,[28] Oakland Arts Festival,[29] the Roque Dalton Cultural Brigade,[30] and Golden Gate Park.
[31] Hand moved to Vallejo, California, in 2003 where he performed his poetry at local venues like Listen and Be Heard and KZCT.