There is no mercy in the glitter of cleavers.           ‘Totem’, Sylvia Plath



                           child-dagger
                                                        clavicle—self
                           suspended seed 	                             hung liver



bristling of needles                                    of hooks in eyes



                                    i love you, maman
              webbed wings                                                pinioned insects
                                        stitched flesh-seams



 the room                                    as long as                                      a whole



            days                                  ,,,                                     nights



mirror arch                       replicated                          re:                           reple-



               -te                     &&                   incomplete






                                                                             ***



yes,       would very much
                 like to
                           bury the hatchet



                 // exactly where I can see it
             inside of you //
                                                                             ***

Come, let us entwine
                           our limbs and our souls
After all, we fed from the same source
                            release my hand                        (please do)  )not)



                                                                             ***



threads unspooling         cut up / tablecloths
                                            scarves / dresses / stockings
                                            skin / limbs / innards
                                            dreams / language / memory



             one eye open
                                            other eye sealed forever



                                                                             ***
                           I HAVE BEEN

                           TO ______  AND

                           _______.
                           AND LET ME

                           TELL YOU,

                           IT WAS

                           ______________.
                                                                             ***
I beg of you,                       mother



                           catch me
                                                      I fall



                                                                                 I fall

Note:

The poem responds to the following artworks by Louise Bourgeois, in approximate order:

Dagger Child (1947-49), Fée couturiere (1963), The Quartered One (1964-1965), Janus fleuri (1968), Eugénie Grandet (2009), I Love You (1987),

The Winged Figure (1948), Umbilical Cord (2003), Arch of Hysteria (1993), Arch of Hysteria (2004), Knife Figure (2002), À l’infini (2008-09),

Couple (2001), The Couple (2002), The Couple (2003), Heart (2004), Untitled (no 7) (1993), The Trauma of Abandonment (2001),

Nature Study (1986), The Good Mother (2003), Untitled (Broom Woman) (1997), The Waiting Hours (2007), The Hidden Past (2004),

Untitled (I Have Been To Hell and Back) (1996), I Redo (1999-2000) and The Woven Child (2002).
In particular, the penultimate section quotes the text from the embroidered artwork of Untitled (I Have Been To Hell and Back) (1996)

but replaces the words ‘HELL’, ‘BACK’ and ‘WONDERFUL’ with blank spaces.