Answer:
Clothespin and Your Hands speak of two relationships. Both of them on a balance of probability are two different marriages.
In Clothespin, the author recounts her observation of her neighbors marriage.
In this marriage, the neighbour and her husband metaphorically represent clothes. When compared tho her husband's the wifes' clothing is pale. This could mean that the wife is unhappy, and wants more out of the marriage. The penultimate and the last line each read
"side by side they move" (Meaning they still do things together, in public they appear to be alright)
"The clothespin is all That holds them together" (Meaning regardless of how they behave in public, it's just the legality of the marriage that holds them together.
By contrast, the relationship typified in "Your Hands" is also a long term relationship. We know this because the first line reads:
"I love your hands which hold me, held me, for so many years without binding me"
Unlike the first poem, the woman in this poem is the subject and narrates her experience in the first person singular.
The poem starts by describing her partner using his hands as a metaphor to represent his attitude. In the concluding lines, while still referring to his hands she states:
"whose cupped shells
change me
slowly slowly
into the pearl
they wanted
all the time"
Here she speaks of how secure she feels within the relationship and how her partner has gently helped her become her highest self.
Cheers!
