A woman sits in one corner in a white vest and white boxer shorts. Her head is shaved. In the other corner a three piece tweed suit hangs by its fingernails. Over the next 9 rounds the butch dresses as the poem strips our understanding of masculine women to the bone.
A Butterfly Fist writes into the white noise around female masculinity, and explores themes of community, courage, loss, difference, exile and survival.
A Butterfly Fist is a set of cantos exploring the experiences of butch women, based on memoir. Initially commissioned to be a part of Apples & Snakes' Rallying Cry event, the piece is set in a boxing ring roped with barbed wire.
Joelle Taylor
Joelle Taylor is an award-winning poet, playwright and author who has recently completed touring Europe, Australia, Brazil and South East Asia with her latest collection Songs My Enemy Taught Me. She is widely anthologised, the author of 3 full poetry collections and 3 plays and is currently completing her debut book of short stories The Night Alphabet, with support from the Arts Council. Her new collection A Butterfly Fist & Other Poems will be published in June 2021 by Westbourne Press.