Cut - outs
By Felicity Plunkett
Published 20 October 2023
No words
but the blazing
as when oblique sun
grazes the page.
Secret words
thrum, hidden, fretted
strands of your song enduring
small in the wind’s memory.
Take the nail scissors
we used today to cut
the haiku back to its exquisite
bones. Hide them in your hem.
One day, if you want to escape,
their sharp teeth at your thighs
will remind you of blades
in the cake, skeleton keys
your fingers tap, the outlaw’s face
wind-stretched as she rides
the horse made of metaphor.
'Cut - outs' was commissioned as part of a poetry workshop led by poet Felicity Plunkett at St Georges Girls' High School, in which she engaged Year 10 students in activities inspired by the Cabinet of Lost and Found learning resource.