(just realized that the poetry asides site that i did the poetry marathon with has daily prompts. This. pick a headline and write a poem). This should be a nasty one. Here goes.
The Unicorn Tapestries: Three Youths Stamp Fawn to Death
The perspective is a bit wrong
on the fence that circles the unicorn.
The slant light from the cloisters
catches the warp and weave of the final panel
and reveals the beast contented in captivity
returned, iconic
mystical and good for us
after we'd slaughtered him
a spear through the throat
the dog licking there
preceding panels show the hunt
the men and dogs waiting as the unicorn
dips its horn
purifies the water
of poison
there
carry on
beautiful
mystical
beast
and then the dogs
the men and dogs
chase to kill
the men and dogs
chase to kill
but cannot
all arrows sharp, long,
directed, pointing at
what eludes
the kill
leap
beast
away
next
the woman,
gracious,
who - irresistible - charms
so the dog takes a bite
and the animal then kicked in the muzzle
stepped on with tunes blaring
the eyes gone wild
little sounds, little,
dampened with an untied shoe on the throat
parts going limp
soft dots of fur
naming innocence
reddening and youth
embolded snapping new bones with a two-heeled hit
their power visible from the side of the road
fuck you, mom. fuck you, teacher
and you. and you.
and whoever
and whatever
and whatever.
and the magic eyes look up to one boy
and go black.
and in this way the fawn finds himself
in a circular pen in heaven
more perfectly beautiful
this way
than that
how it would have been
his white tail
disappearing into
the broken
light of the forest.
5 comments:
I liked your poetic interpretation. I'm tempted to send you a photo from my teenage years and see what you can do with that.
actually that's just one from a series of seven pictures. so I'll be needing seven pictures of the young Zebub for a proper montage-tableau.
the tapestries are not at the met, but here's this should you not want to avoid starting work today. like me....oh well, off to Lala's Schoolhouse once again.
maybe this one's better:
http://victorian.fortunecity.com/eliot/452/tapestry.html
link:http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/Unicorn/unicorn_history_detail1.asp
not, of course, that looking at unicorn tapestries is really your distraction of choice...
thank you for introducing me to the world of unicorn tapestries. Was it common knowledge that the horns were poison? I learned something! Something useful.
i think it's more that the horn could detect and remove poisons... and the whole elusive, pure spirited creature was very similar indeed (in life and death) to our good friend: J.C.
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