jackie scutt writing
Grace
The thread of fictional stories that comprise Grace, have 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.
The stories in Grace, expand the same ideas into a prose narrative.
14.3.20
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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.