the danseuse (Degas).
She whirls!
the ballerina,
alight & thin
as a bird’s
song
disrobed from
its sound.
The ballerina,
she twirls
the air
around
her fingers
in ribbons
of ivory where,
as they unfurl
into the eyes
like budding flowers,
the heart
blossoms & scars.
She leaps!
the ballerina, alight
with the trickle
of candlelight
spinning down her hair
onto her thighs
where
my breath lingers
& flies.
En pointe,
the ballerina,
ravishes the air
from my throat,
& on the wooden
expanse, she briefly floats
and then
vanishes.
The ballerina,
Degas’ danseuse
alight & thin
as a bird’s
song
disrobed from
its sound.
Photography © TJ Edson
Jean-Michel A. Hatton: “I was born in France of a American father and a French mother, grew up surrounded by the arts, poetry and the pursuit of social justice and then moved to the US at age 19 where I studied, lived and then worked for a decade until 2010, year I left my job as coordinator at the office of international relations at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and returned to France to plant roots and build a family. I now live in Marseille and continue to write while still working in one of the offices of international relations at Aix-Marseille University (AMU).”
TJ Edson is the Art Director of Oddball Magazine and a volunteer at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery. He has also had work appear recently in Terrarium.
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