Brittle Dance

Picturing a performance

Soft sound slowly swells,
partakes of a staccato beat.
Some quirky chord play quickens,
thickens the thin tune.

Stark, shadowless stand,
surrounded by stage-light.
Poised, position perfect, prepared.
Slim, prim and pretty.
Spin, trim, they pirouette,
like so many small cogs
spilled on a plate of glass.

Jerkily jump, jolted, in
stiff, fixed formality
just as instructed.
Every action angular.

Sharp, shadowless, swirl,
then harsh light stutters,
shuttered, in split seconds.
Optically alters the performance.

Spiky, stylised and disjointed,
punctuated by percussion.
Taut, tensed and tightening.
Panicked, possessed, it's frightening.

Shatters

sends

shards skittering

across the stage.

Stills.

The brittle dance.