Skip to content
poets.ca circle logo black transparent

League of Canadian Poets

  • About
  • Programs & Services
  • Awards & Contests
  • Microgrants & Bursaries
  • Poetry Community
  • Join
  • Support the LCP
×
  • About
  • Programs & Services
  • Awards & Contests
  • Microgrants & Bursaries
  • Poetry Community
  • Join
  • Support the LCP

Whose Hands Are These? by Marilyn Gear Pilling

By League of Canadian Poets | January 31, 2023
Poem title: Whose Hands Are These? Poet name: Marilyn Gear Pilling Poem: Whose hands are these? Not mine, not mine My hands are soft, unsullied, fine. Whose hands are these, what are these veins that bump through flesh like worms through soil in rain, these lines of blue that cause distress, that change terrain that once was flat and even when I spread these hands and lie supine to view them through the sunlit vine that twines around our old tree’s spine, I can’t divine why anyone would be unkind enough to claim these hands were mine. My hands are soft, somewhat refined inclined to hold a glass of wine, my nails shine my hands align with what’s benign, are not defined by brownish speckles fit for swine. These fingers marred by witches’ nodes designed to claw an infant from its safe abode, fingers that a witch might use to fry and eat with chicken bones. Whose hands are these? Not mine, not mine not mine. End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright ©Marilyn Gear Pilling Marilyn Gear Pilling is the author of three collections of fiction and six collections of poetry, the most recent published by Cormorant Books. She has won and been shortlisted for many awards, including Descant’s Best Canadian Poem. Her work has been published in most of Canada’s literary magazines, also in the American periodical Rattle. She is a past president of the Hamilton Poetry Centre.
Posted in Poetry Pause
Support poets and poetry in Canada. Donate today.

Established in 1966, the League of Canadian Poets is a National Arts Service Organization dedicated to supporting poets, building poetic communities, supporting inclusive and equitable free expression, and promoting Canadian poets and poetry. 

Site Links

  • About
  • Programs & Services
  • Awards & Contests
  • Microgrants & Bursaries
  • Poetry Community
  • Join
  • Support the LCP
Member Hub

Get In Touch!

  • League of Canadian Poets
    C/O Centre for Social Innovation
    720 Bathurst St
    Toronto ON
    M5S 2R4
     

  • (416) 504-1657

  • [email protected]

  • The League of Canadian Poets operates remotely; in-person office hours are by appointment only. 

"Poetry means having the courage to forage the depthsof what makes & unmakes us."

–Adebe DeRango-Adem, Author of Vox Humana, 2023 Raymond Souster Award Winner

Donate Today
Poetry needs superheroes. A donation to the League of Canadian Poets supports poets and poetry from coast to coast.

The office of the League of Canadian Poets is situated in the land of Tkaronto which is the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

Footer-logos-resized-new

© 2023 League of Canadian Poets

GoDaddy Web Design
Scroll To Top