Skip to content

Scottish Poetry Library

Register/Sign in
Shopping Bag Shopping Bag
Bringing people and poems together
  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Re-Opening FAQ
  • Poetry
    • Poems
    • Poets
    • Poetry Ambassadors 2020
    • Best Scottish Poems
    • Podcasts
    • Poetry and Mindfulness
    • Our National Poet
    • Posters
    • Publishers
  • Library
    • Become a borrower
    • Catalogue
    • Collections
    • Ask a librarian
    • Copyright enquiries
  • Learning
    • National Poetry Day 2019
    • National Poetry Day archive
    • SQA set texts
    • Learning resources
    • New to poetry?
    • Advice for poets
  • Events
    • What’s On
    • Venue hire
  • Shop
    • Scottish Poetry
    • Poetry Pamphlet Cards
    • Pocket Poets
    • Scotland’s Makar
    • Help
  • About us
    • Our story
    • Our people
    • Our projects
    • Jobs
    • Our building
    • FAQs
    • Find us
  • Support us
    • Become a Friend
    • Donate
    • Easy Fundraising
  • Blog
Shopping BagShopping Bag
Ask a librarian
  • Home
  • >
  • Poetry
  • >
  • Gillian K. Ferguson
  • >
  • Baby Hand
Donate Donate icon Ask a Librarian Ask a Librarian icon

Baby Hand

Gillian K. Ferguson

Not bones but muscular air
inside; why starfish spread
five doll small living fingers
with cushion button dimples
for knuckles. All of you
shocks me with wonder,
but in particular this hand,
Bonsai, clutches my heart,
hurts. With unlikely strength
squeezes my eyes without
mercy as it pairs and prays
in the yellow curtain-warmed
dawn; coils my bird perch
pinky like the spring tendrils
of the Morning Glory.
Palm pads pressure – a punch
from a pussy willow – a half
inch lifeline in their fresh creases.
Go on, grow, long as a plane
trail, as shining, but let me stay
more – gripped by miracle.


Gillian K. Ferguson

from Baby: poems on pregnancy, birth and babies (Edinburgh: Canongate, 2001)

Reproduced by permission of the author.

Tags:

babies Birth sensations the body
Share this
Facebook
Twitter
Email

Learn more

Gillian K. Fergusonb.1965

Gillian Ferguson is an Edinburgh-born poet and journalist; she has responded to the Human Genome project with a major web-based sequence of poems on the book of life.
More about Gillian K. Ferguson

Podcasts

Our audio programme of poets, poems and news for you to listen to.
Listen Now

Join

Become a Borrower or support our work by becoming a Friend of SPL.
Join us
  • Newsletter signup
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2021.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
City of Edinburgh logo Green Arts Initiative logo Creative Scotland logo
By leaves we live

The Scottish Poetry Library is staffed weekdays from 10am – 2pm and is providing a limited service including postal loans and Click & Collect. For details, click COVID-19 in the menu bar above. Dismiss