Exit Light
1 Minute Read Time
The pirouette, ensconced: you snap your toes
into their predetermined clamps and spin
(and this is how you keep from letting go).
Precise control imbues adagios
with patience like you never had for him.
The pirouette gets lost in snapping toes
until you spot the dizzy, fern-green glow
above the mezzanine and focus in,
and this is how you keep form. Letting go
of this means losing claim to your great pose,
the quiet moment, chalk-white, closing in
on the pirouette. Ensconced, you snap your toes
against the silk of spent pointe shoes, the lone
twist of not knowing goddamn anything,
and this is how you keep from letting go,
from switching positions, finally, on that boy
who feathered off the life you made for him.
The pirouette starts strong—you snap your toes,
and this is how you keep from letting go.
Read more from Issue 15.1.
