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Full Moon
3 Jan 2026
Suzi
Feay
The Cut
After Cate Nelson’s
Unfair Fight
I am a knife. I cut meat.
I am in a painting. I cut space.
The form was dreamt before the fact.
Mirror image, mirror act.
Grooved in your life-line
I lie in your hand;
I am a sign in your mind, I
Am the outline of your sin.
Sly in your cabinet
Steady in your drawer
For the idea to occur
Of meal or massacre.
I hang in the shop in a plastic packet
Anticipating a bridge or a market
A drowsy park or weekend street.
Erect the barriers, fetch the tape
Anywhere smiles can congregate.
This is a crime scene; it’s not my fault.
I am a knife for cutting meat.
Behind the poem...
I met artist Cate Nelson on Zoom during COVID-19 restrictions. We were part of a poetry group on Tuesday evenings. Most of us were based in the UK, but Cate always joined us at breakfast time in San Francisco, glass of wine in hand, despite having been up all night working. On one occasion, she shared images of her work. I became intrigued by a painting called Unfair Fight: an incredibly real-looking image of a knife laid alongside an outline of itself – a kind of shadow weapon. It struck me as beautiful, yet sinister.