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These Hands Are Not Ours

by Jill Chan

 

Jill Chan’s These Hands Are Not Ours, her third book of poetry, explores the deep and sometimes uncanny relationships between our human experiences and our wider, more tenuous though, at times, no less ambiguous experiences of the divine. These poems are written in an almost subliminal language filled with beautiful tension and silent immensity.

Jill Chan grew up in Manila, Philippines. She has a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. In 1994, she migrated to New Zealand. Her poems have appeared in Poetry New Zealand, JAAM, Trout, Takahe, Asia and Pacific Writers Network, MiPOesias, Tears in the Fence, foam:e, and New Zealand Poetry Sound Archive. Her two previous collections, The Smell of Oranges, and Becoming Someone Who Isn’t, were published by Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop. She is the editor of Poetry Sz: demystifying mental illness, and Numinous: Spiritual Poetry.

 

Perhaps we are never created
until we are brave enough
to be made.

Until these hands
are not ours
but the sky’s,

we claim too much
of the night,
the love,
its making.

Reviews

I guess I've been reading Jill Chan's subtle, understated, contemplative lyrics for more than a decade now. They used to come in little packets to Spin magazine, back in the late nineties, when I edited one of the three yearly issues, and there was always something mysterious and distant about them. They roused my curiosity in a way that few of the other contributors did.
    I'm not sure that Jill's work has changed all that substantially since then. There was already a kind of formal perfection about her approach to poetry which risked (on occasion) the suspicion of coldness or distance. She has relaxed a little, though, and it's become ever more apparent just how vociferous are the demons who require this elegant poise, this pirouetting on the edge of the abyss.
    In short, I'm a big fan. With the possible exception of Richard von Sturmer, I can't think of another New Zealand writer who could more proudly carry off such labels as "Zen" or "spiritual" poet.
   This book, These Hands Are Not Ours, is a sequel to her earlier volumes The Smell of Oranges (2003) and Becoming a Someone Who Isn't (2007), from the same publisher, Michael O'Leary's "Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop."   -Jack Ross The Imaginary Museum Blog,   http://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2009/07/three-cool-cats.html


From reviews of Becoming Someone Who Isn't:

"Jill Chan’s new work continues to interrogate the sense of alienation felt by the individual in a global village...The juxtaposition of light and dark: waving in recognition versus waving off: the inside contrasted with the outside: Here are tensions which reverberate through the collection. And they are evoked in uncanny language, which is not afraid to risk exhausting the reader with complexity...Becoming Someone Who Isn’t positions the reader on the edge between pleasure and pain: These poems are a disconcerting textual metaphor for our uncertain times." -Janet Charman, New Zealand Writer's Ezine

"The melancholy that runs through this collection is like a fine mist drifting without settling…Chan’s poems are clearly acts of survival that transcend these sad places to contemplate the nature of existence….There is a strong sense of narrative lyricism; also a fine balance of levity and seriousness; resignation and hope…." -Patricia Prime, Takahe

"-a poetic navigation through the existence of the outsider-" -Siobhan Harvey, Poetry New Zealand

"A book people could enjoy for many years. Each time I read the verses they seem fresh to me, full of new ideas. Highly recommended." -Raewyn Alexander, Magazine

"Chan uses words and images in a complex way and her internal 'voice' comes straight off the page. Her poems have a mystical quality. Like thoughts, many of the poems are left open-ended and can appear obscure. However, this allows the reader to spend time enjoying both the lyricism and the gift of individual interpretation." -Nancy Loader, New Zealand Poetry Society newsletter


From reviews of The Smell of Oranges:

"Like the calligrapher's brush, many of the poems leave an impression on the mind after you have finished reading them. They don't give too much away. Some of them are quite enigmatic but full of delicate and beautiful touches." -Robin Fry, New Zealand Poetry Society newsletter

"Many of these poems are not so much unemotional as intensely interested in everything that is going on. A scientist's view? Partly. Just an outgoing mergence with humankind... This book is highly recommended as a really good read." -Trevor Reeves, Southern Ocean Review

TITLE                 These Hands Are Not Ours
AUTHOR           Jill Chan
PUBLISHED      2009
CATEGORY      Poetry
FORMAT           Paperback
EXTENT            13X19 cm, 60 pages
ISBN                 978-186942-107-6
PRICES              NZ  $ 18
                           US $ 15
                           AU $ 20
                           GBP £ 8
                           CA $ 18

These amounts include postage.

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