hagiography 2

Hagiography 2 is the second collection of stories in the series.

One of the pieces in the collection, Grace, has been developed from my interest in women pioneers of circus.

The poem Mercurial was written in 2018 and is included in Women Who Dare, a series of seven poems and five prints.

Grace expands the same ideas into a prose narrative.

14.3.20

Mercurial

On the fine linen of my skin

I invent myself

In intricate ink;

Serpents slip around my breast,

A lioness strides my chest and

In my arms rest

Birds of paradise.

I play the crowds like a concert pianist

Timing my turns with grace,

With ease, I catch the flying trapeze

Keep you in thrall, watching me -

One blink from a fall -

Leap for my life and turn thrice

In the air.

Like a magpie I’ve stolen the show,

Hold the ring in my iron jaw,

Pivot in pinwheels

(My stellar stunt).

You count with me – one, two, three -

I can shoulder a century

Or more.

I tread the boards

Contortionist extraordinaire

I shift my shape (I wouldn’t fit);

I’m a free-falling freak

The vaudeville doyenne

Singular corps

Trompe l’oeil act.

Now draw back the curtain, dare

To discover my dislocation, my weeping wounds;

I’m a hellcat, a spitfire,

The mistress of tantrums,

I hire and I fire and I stamp my commands.

A volcano of pain

I endure.