Question

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



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?

Answer 1

l think it helps you