Baptism
The water will be gentle on your hair, or maybe apple
blossom
if the season is right, or a handful of paper
snowflakes, bubbles
or just words, sung as a candle burns, scented with
honey and pine.
Your name will be whispered, let go, to disperse like a
dandelion
– you can reel it right back in and have it for the rest
of your life,
or pick out a new one like a perfect shell from the
shoreline,
or a piece of pink sea glass – you can keep picking and
dropping,
just tell me how to make you happy. I will bake an
enormous cake
with layers of frosting, white not for purity, but a
page to start
filling with scribbles of colour. I will cut the biggest
piece for me.
We will take so many pictures, fill up a wooden treasure
chest
to keep under your bed, decorated with crepe paper and
feathers.
You were born a being of utter cosmic wonder, and you
will be
no different after we have done this. But maybe I will
be different.
ELIZABETH GIBSON IS A MANCHESTER POET, PLAYWRIGHT AND PERFORMER, INSPIRED BY QUEERNESS, BODY IMAGE, MENTAL HEALTH, CITY LIFE, NATURE AND FOLKLORE. HER WORK HAS BEEN ACCEPTED BY 404 INK, ATRIUM, CONFINGO, LIGHTHOUSE, MAGMA, POPSHOT, QUEERLINGS, UNDER THE RADAR, AND ANTHOLOGIES FROM THE POETRY BUSINESS AND THE POETRY SCHOOL. SHE WAS AWARDED A DYCP GRANT FROM ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND IN 2021 TO FURTHER EXPLORE QUEERNESS THROUGH POETRY AND PERFORMANCE. SHE DEBUTED HER ONE-PERSON SPOKEN-WORD PLAY, THE REASON FOR GEESE, AT TURN ON FEST AT HOPE MILL THEATRE, MANCHESTER, IN 2022. SHE IS ON TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM AS @GRIZONNE.