I am ugly woman’s man hands
Leathered to stringy flesh strips
dried by harsh cruelty of the sun
My pillows of porcelain skin
Transmuted into mother’s spider hands
Nicotine stained hide stretched across
toothpick strong bones like a
new year’s dragon
Puppeteered by her to squeeze a
tube of tobacco between two
knuckley fingers
Strong scales of keratin crown
each digit and serve to
flick cigarette or pick sick fleas
Now I’ve inherited those
one morning woke up transmuted