Guest Poem by Elizabeth Cook

Elizabeth Cook has written poetry, fiction, and libretti and was the editor of the 'Oxford Authors John Keats'. The title poem of her first collection, 'Bowl', was a Poem on the Underground. A new pamphlet, 'Tumbling', is forthcoming from Mariscat in the autumn. She is currently working on a novel set during the English Civil Wars. This poem is from Acumen 115.

Avoir du Poids

Degas knew it: the weight
of his hand on thick paper
as he pressed down or skimmed
with a crayon. The strong arm
of the Repasseuse as she guides the hot iron
round the seams of chemises
and blousons: the outs and ins
of complicated pleats. Miss La La
– how the rope tugs against her teeth with the full bulk
of her muscular body as she hangs from the roof
of the Cirque Fernando. In the dance schools,
when he sits close, he catches the sound of the shoes
– darned, rosined points and the soft soles;
the small unavoidable thuds as they land.