Dec. 10, 2023

Audio

Fisher King – Frensham – 2120

By Jamie Hale

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Fisher King – Frensham – 2120

Originally commissioned by Bedtime Stories for the End of the World

By Jamie Hale

This boat replaced my legs, long ago.

I never leave the water now, though

my oars are green with algae, and thick

slowly through the sludge. The fish I catch

and eat – still raw and wriggling – are long

and thin. More fragile bone than flesh. I choose

to stay amidst the water, not return to shore.

My wound, my body, my failing land – the

acid rain has drenched the trees and lakes.

I will not be healed – my legs – my wound.

Watch me turn away Perceval – his lance

can make whole only me, but I am hurt

as the land is hurting and I would rather die

as the land itself is dying. But come the grail

and its devastation shall be healed – I shall stay

like this, from choice, but not be barren, bear

daughters from my womb, my hidden wound

and stay off-shore, and over days the land

itself regrow, refresh. Friend, there will be

a place where we can start again, my wound

a badge, the land, not sore but healing,

our love, not sore but healing – please – bring

only the holy grail – and yourself. Please,

come to me alone and let us heal the world.

Jamie Hale is a poet, curator, director, theatremaker, screenwriter, and otherwise indecisively multidisciplinary creative. Their work narrates the intimate urgency of having a disabled body in society, linking nature, mortality and universality, both welcoming and challenging readers and audiences. They were a Jerwood Poetry Fellow 2021-2022 and founded the Disabeld Poets’ Prize in 2022. They also founded the award-winning CRIPtic Arts, and won the Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund Director/Theatremaker of the Year Award for their poetry show NOT DYING in 2021. Their pamphlet, Shield was published by Verve Press, and their show has been platformed from HOME Manchester to Jakarta. Their work has appeared everywhere from the Guardian to the Rialto, MAGMA, the Wellcome Collection and Poetry Quarterly, and they have performed and spoken in venues including the Saboteur Awards, the Tate Modern, the Southbank Centre, the Barbican Centre, and Newcastle Poetry Festival.

Image description: Jamie Hale, a white electric wheelchair user, sitting in their chair, their head in the headrest and their hand on the controller. They are wearing black, with a blue denim jacket. It has two pins on it - a greyhound, and a London bus with a rainbow flag. They are against a brick wall.

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