Already

From These Windows: Online Collection – a selection of writing and art inspired by the collections of the V&A Museums. 

they are there
gilded and graceful
still               stamped
in the milky gap between jeans
and a nice top when she leans
over the bar to smile and
flirt with straight white
teeth and

there they are
on her batting eyelids a shuddered path
tread over and over in
black ink begged
to mimic the crisp
clink of bubbly flutes and
voices and with its perfect flick
bring the pussy
cat’s luck back
with it.

are they there she asks
her mother the halloween disco was not for
five hours the elastic chafed
her oxter but she twirled and jumped
with pointed feet and
it was fun to have
a wand even if the magic would not
come and besides
the disco ball made
the ceiling look like stars and wasn’t
that enough to make believe

they are there.
in the that box unattached
to flappers’ tiaras or countess’s heads
those lives of the party are long
dead so serene in beds of red
velvet the gleaming rocks keep the light
they made habits of catching
everyone’s eyes but the price
of being a prize possession is
being kept inside.

at night she lies
in bed she burns in the space
she can no longer reach her shoulder blades
slice at old wounds she swears
they sprouted from sinew they
rooted in vital ventricles
they are there already she tosses
and turns tendrils around her
spindly fingers and tries to stretch
out the flex of the flap tries to
ignore the ancient ache one
prick was all it took and
she will never
ever stop trying to
stick them
back on.

Words © Rebecca Baird

Artwork © Hannah Whaley

	The creative pieces for These Windows were inspired by visits to the V&A Dundee, where writers and artists were given a guided tour of the Scottish Design Galleries followed by an interactive session exploring objects within the SDG handling collection: https://www.vam.ac.uk/dundee/exhibitions/scottish-design-galleries
	This piece inspired by: Diamond Winged Tiara With more than 2,500 cushion-shaped, single-cut, circular-cut and rose-cut diamonds, this tiara features a pair of ‘en tremblant’ wings and is constructed using wire-coiled springs so that they move slightly when worn.