Contortions of clothing

For part three, I am again lucky to be friends with Viva! she provided the pictures.

Weaving Genies

The arena still carries hints of
singed skin when the room dims
indicating the arrival of
either an unpaid electricity bill
Or something equally dramatic

Sure enough
two spotlights shine
abruptly
from the wings
blinding the audience members
who would tempt fate
by staring straight into the sun
The same folk who
leave their seatbelts unbuckled
Dangerous people

The bulbs are thrust upward
to the eaves of the flyrails
as if waiting the
descent of a minor deity

Instead the silhouette
of a scarlet silk begins
a graceful tailspin
toward center stage

It sways from the breeze
of a thousand lungs breathing
Empty
Yet when it reaches the earth
the crowd can clearly the
the outline of a figure

From within the folds of fabric
a solitary actor tumbles forth
clad in a robe of fashions past
she motions for the
last of the cloth

The drape is lowered
and again a writhing body
is found inside
the bridegroom to the enchantress bride

He emerges as is more self conscious
like a butterfly from a cocoon
being filmed for a nature documentary

They are both hard bodied
either chistled painstakingly
from marble
or spray on abs

And as these acts normally go
they are fast to grab each other
in an embrace and begin
a pas de duex
which is French for
pass of two
or hold the second portions
or ballet

They dance the way that people
sway in their apartments
when they are positive that their
roommates are vacationing
out of eyeshot
In Moscow

The two fit together seamlessly
as if woven together from the
same bolt of cloth
perfect like moths and bug zappers
or cheesecake and 3:00 am
or gods and the afterlife

She in particular
because that’s who most people have their eyes on
defies gravity
floating impossibly long in the air
like a pancake tossed
in slow motion
probably from swallowing helium

Hauntingly
no chorus plays for the performers
and when they are finished
she wraps her silk dress
about herself and her partner
enveloping them in a
blend of bends and curves and shadow
and soon only the fabric remains

They don’t even wait for applause
They were not dancing for the audience