Illusionists

An exercise in my on-line poetry course is to write a poem based on a picture.
The pic features an old trick- conjurer's assistant suspended, apparently, in mid air.
Fine, invisible rope? Not so- hence the presence of a hoop.
The decor was mock-Eygptian so
I did a bit of research on this type of visual trickery.
I won't be trying it out any time soon.
See links below.


http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item106359.html

ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Hall

Meanwhile here is the poem.

The Egyptian Hall

They loved to watch women

Sawn in half.

Or suspended perilously

On a conjurer’s breath.

You cannot see the metal bar

Behind his legs.

Or the control buttons

At his feet.

Just a moustached man

Tail-coated and Bow-tied

Holding a clipped-
Winged woman

On a metal hoop;

Her breasts hieroglyph-

Bound, her hips

Silk –Tied.

The ideal woman

At his behest.
Silent, rigid.
Rising

Out of her coffin
In mummified

Repose.

Copyright with Cathy Leonard 2016