Vicci Bentley
Exercises on the edge
1 Holding
He looks peaceful in his loll-lipped sleep,
a louche and aging putto flirting with Morpheus;
or a chip off some pieta, arm limp, wrist prone.
His hand a yellowing leaf curled on the alabaster
folds of bedsheet. How mannered it all is -
how tubed and civilised. Air in, fluids out.
Everything organised but the time to
stop breathing - his final rite.
I stoop to fumble for tissues,
catch sight of a bloody bag.
I straighten up and
primp the flowers.
2 Stretching
If I sit with you here on the edge,
listen to the chitter-chatter of your electronic pulse,
twitch to each synaptic impetus,
thud with you suddenly heart-in-mouth -
pressure up, pressure down jagging green on your screen -
will you please get out of my dreams?
3 Releasing
Instead of leaking black tributaries down my
made-up, saved-up face, I pleat my haunches into the
birth squat, let my heart fall through the
hole in my pelvic floor and piss a yellow
river. Watch it dribble dirtballs over
pavingstones, cascade the
kerb and slip into the
downstream. Trickle into the
grid. What the
fuck. It’s all water
under the bridge.
Page(s) 9
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