Abstract

This long poem centres on the life histories of Iris and Lily Hutton, conjoined twins who work in a circus sideshow. The poem has as its central concerns the effects of representation on subjectivity and the notion of the split subject. Iris and Lily perform their conjoined identities in a circus sideshow, where they are objectified as "freaks" and presented as spectacles. When the twins leave the sideshow stage, cultural constructs of gender and of the normalized body affect the ways in which they experience their subjectivities. This narrative poem explores how this affects their personal relationships. The poem is organized into three sections: "Sideshow" reveals key events in the twins' youth; "Escapology" chronicles Iris' relationship with the escape artist Amazing Abscondini, who ultimately falls in love with Lily; "Epilogue" has as its focus Lily's reaction to the death of Iris as the result of an operation to separate the twins. The poem ends with the symbolic beginning of Lily's emotional openness as she realizes her dream of flying on the trapeze.