Paper Cuts, by Julia Biggs

Paper cut-out illustration of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Hochzeitlied, by Adele Schopenhauer (Germany) 1820

Paper Cuts

Sinking sharpened scissors into paper skin,
she cuts us down to size.
Ceaseless manipulation,
dexterous trimming,
intimate industry--
her tender gravity fashions our elusive half-reality,
shadows without shadows.

A miniaturised troupe of gossamer forms,
we slip into tenebrous theatrics,
our daring acrobatics exceeding the page.
She insists on our rupture,
on her wounding virtuosity.
A soft snip.
Another captivating cut.

Julia Biggs

Julia Biggs is a poet, writer and freelance art historian. She lives in Cambridge, UK. Her work has appeared in various print and online literary journals, including Streetcake Magazine, Green Ink Poetry and The Primer. Her current research explores haunting seascapes and the delicious excesses of the Gothic mode.