My father’s hands are beautiful, they can fix this moth’s wing and make machines they can mend the fuse when the world goes dark can make light swim and walls jump in around me again I can see my mother’s face again.
You must take good care of them with your finest creams never let the nails break or skin go dry, only those wise fingers know how to fix the thing that makes my doll cry and they make small animals out of clay.
Never let blades or anything sharp and hurtful near them don’t let bees or nettles sting them don’t let fire or burning oil try them
My father’s hands are beautiful, take good care of them.
By Jeni Cowzyn
8
i Pick out the verbs that describe what the father’s hand do. 2
ii What do you usually fix? What is fixed in line 3? What does this tell us about the father? 3
iii What usually ‘goes dark’ (line 6)? What do you think the speaker means when she says ‘the world goes dark’? How can the father ‘mend the fuse’? 3
iv ‘can make light swim and walls jump in around me again’ (lines 7-8). What do you think this sentence means? What does it tell us about the father in the poem? 3
v What does the speaker mean when she says ‘I can see my mother’s face again’ (line 9)? What do you think has happened to the mother? 3
vi Many capital letters and full stops have not been used. What is the effect of leaving them out the poem? 2
vii What kind of a person is the father in the poem? Write a short passage on him. How does his daughter feel about him? 4
Answers
i) Answer: Father’s hands can do the following things:
a) Can fix moth’s wing.
b) Can make machines
c) Can mend the fuse
d) Can make light swim and walls jump
e) Can fix the thing that makes the poet’s doll cry
f) Can make small animals out of clay
ii) Answer: To fix something means to make it work again. The father can fix many things such as moth’s wing, fault in the doll. This tells us that the poet’s father is quite versatile.
iii) Answer: The world goes dark when there is power cut due to a blown fuse.
iv) Answer: It means the father plays with his daughter; he makes her swim and jump walls.
v) Answer: It appears the poet’s mother either has stopped living with the family or passed away.
vii) Answer: The poet’s father is quite versatile, loving, and caring. He can fix almost anything in the world. He takes utmost care of his daughter. He does not make his daughter feel her mother’s absence.