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Wednesday 5 March 2014

A Sequence from 'The Blind' by Christine Murrray




Episiotomy




the delicate steels are leaning in a row on blue
blue cloths awaiting their use

they think she cannot see this or does not know
the hook/ the blind/ the knife /the thread-skein/

the needle point for when the rupture will begin
as it will

she stumbles past wearing the gown and carrying
her paper-cup of ice ice-water : to wake him up






 inside the silica of this holding-skin

inside the silica of this holding-skin
beneath crystal swipe and tungsten tip

the exact point
drain then seep

the vessel-encasement sustains until form becomes
as apparent as the meconium distress which is all

over the cloths the linens the floor / blood is everywhere
the globe is hook burst / there is a body curled into the skin

stitched in caul and head / they will /
use the steel tips to force him out






catapult reprise 1

a bone-handled knife is no the tool for dissection/ section/ caesarean /abortion
episiotomy

red thigh rivulet is always beneath bone-handled knife / hook & blood-bag
hook & water-bag /
                              and catapult

over cloth/ linen / floor / and a body curled stitched / caul-head /
use the steel tip the exact/ the exact point

drain then seep /
a bone-handled knife is not the tool for dissections/

sections/cesarians/abortions/episotomies /
the red thigh rivulet is always beneath /the bone-handled knife/







form is 3


a bone-handled knife is not tool for dissection section abortion caesarean episiotomy red thigh
rivulet is always beneath bone-handled knife hook & blood-bag hook & waterbag / catapult


over cloth/ linen floor /
and a body curled / stitched /
caul-head /
use the steel tip
the exact

.

drain then seep /and drain/ seep to/ break it /
form is /






and red thread the open wound

the gash split and threaded into the toe’s round
a pummelling of dust making red blue-hued and

the drill down split mercury of the mirror shard leaded
underfoot and pounded to dust and now the shatter of it

the shattering of the mirror and from it a skein bled
into a thread a bit of spinning from furies’ daughter her

yes her line (her skein) is emergent from the mirror now
I knew that it would be : the room is full with pounded glass

pummelled to blue-hued dust a dust engrained ,
yes engrained in :
your dance
your heel
your arch
your twirling rage

the red thread is in the open wound






red on gold under gold the red thread
red on gold under gold the red thread will tie in the sequin
the dress will transform from the funerary gown of soft cloth

metal pearl mother-of-pearl the peacock sequins emphasise
the scar : where it was cradled in soft cloth/ it shifts with light

it now shifts with light

a battle armour with shiny metal frilling
the metal frill catches and disperses light from

embonpoint to point of candlelight it is no dust
no accretion of dust occurs in the music of fabric

sequin it : it hides the wound
sequin it : with the red thread
sequin it : the loosed skein

tack it in
stitch on stitch
and sequin it
cover it




The Blind is a book length poem about the Furies operation in a contemporary setting.

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