Body Double

Karen Rigby

One of me leans, mouth a hive

of honey & stingers. The other

me scales a cantilever bridge.

Neither of us survives in this film

without the Novocain lure

of danger: my wires erased

in the digital aftermath.

Nothing touching but air.

One of me waits at the threshold.

The other me is fulcrum & lightspeed.

One of me wakens to a panic of birds.

The other me falls to the river.

When we’ve had enough

going back & forth, I return

in the luminol exposure, my palm

resurfacing on a white wall.

Here I’m standing, alive,

both versions true as a lie.

KAREN RIGBY is the author of Fabulosa (JackLeg) and Chinoiserie (Ahsahta). Her poems have been published in SAND, The London Magazine, Australian Book Review and other journals. Find her at https://www.karenrigby.com.