‘Federojenska
did a grand jeté into the wings one matinée and was never seen again’ – Edward Gorey, The
Gilded Bat
I can’t tell you how often
I’ve wanted to do that
zzzzzooop!! and you’re gone
not with a bang but a grand jeté
not with a scowl but a simper
he’s the one
he shucks off his clothes quick & whippy as a grass snake
she looks at the peel & self of him & oh! he’s the one,
she thinks,
really the one this time
the bed’s hot with struggle & straddle & thrust &
thrutch
& summit-topping cry
she never sees him again
sirocco
exhausted noon
the hot wind is syrup
alone, a brittle leaf
ambles along blazing streets
a barefoot child
in slo-mo
Mandy Macdonald
If you have any comments on these poems, Mandy Macdonald
would be pleased to hear from you.
