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Siamese Fighting Fish
Cambodian red, Color of spilt blood, Of ripe plums, You face the glass. You see the always unfamiliar Image of yourself. I watch, unseen (My presence sensed), Obscured by glare That makes a mirror part us. Your dance is not for me.
Fierce Hummingbird! Huitzili! Huitzili! Frail warrior! Side fins Whir As you dash, Birdlike. Under hard gill covers, Plumes of delicate flesh Flare!
Splendid mastery,
Conscious pride: The battle is the dance, bloodless, Scarlet ballet of ribboned banners, Weapons flowers, Shield of flowers, Victories tallied not in deaths but in Precision, consummate, of gesture; Flaring the veil in gestures.
Swelling flame of gill-flesh, Sidelong drift of phallic body, Arrested dart, Humming side fins: Warrior gestures!
You dance Your battle Of flesh and image, Orchid, In your flowery war. –1975 |
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