Nijinsky – Birth

(12th March 1989. When Nijinsky was small his elder brother
accidentally fell from a window and sustained a serious brain injury.
This incident was to haunt him all his life.)

On stage you leapt through the window
dragging with you
the quixotic nature of your birth,
the scream that crawled up the midwife’s back,
the slump of afterbirth
warm against your mother’s thigh.

On stage you leapt through the window,
night after night hovering in mid air
caught as if on a wire
choreographing the memory
to create the perfect grand jete
your foot landing on wood
the jump still thumping through your core.