Flèche by Mary Jean Chan
PBS Autumn Recommendation 2019 Fly on the Wall the “tautness of fear” enacted

the “tautness of fear” enacted in the tautness of each line

Jenny Joseph

Immanuel Mifsud

challenging and completely original

Ballymaloe International Poetry Prize and the Aesthetica Poetry Competition

Flèche by Mary Jean Chan <br><b>PBS Autumn Recommendation 2019</b> Fly on the Wall the “tautness of fear” enactedFlche (the French word for 'arrow') is an offensive technique commonly used in fencing, a sport of Mary Jean Chan's young adult years, when she competed locally and internationally for her home city, Hong Kong. This cross linguistic pun presents the queer, non white body as both vulnerable ('flesh') and weaponised ('flche'), and evokes the difficulties of reconciling one's need for safety alongside the desire to shed one's protective armour in order