BPR 50 | 2023
for Ron De Maris
The city is a reef
where crabs decorate
cornices, angel fish
pass through windows
like smoke, jellyfish
stab onto TV antennae
like kites,
turtles huddle on the curb
with a windblown homburg,
plankton travel the paths
of indifferent spores,
and minnows shift in cosmetics
departments, watched by an octopus
draped over the head
of a mannequin.
On the bakery shelves
anemones and sponges.
An eel coils
around a billowy dress
worn by a warm upcurrent.
In office corridors
barracudas knife
sealed envelopes, dwell
above leather-bound rubble.
Triumphant arcs halo
schools of sardine, and an obelisk
points to whales catching
their breath, their cumulus
shadows darken the unstrolled gardens.
But it is the shark
who alone possesses the ornate galleries,
the emblemed vaults. His fins
scrape the headless wings of tumbled victories.
He is the new dove bursting through
the rose window of Notre Dame.
from Sorting Metaphors (Anhinga Press, 1983)
first appeared in Kayak
All of Ricardo Pau-Llosa's works featured in Issue 50 can be read/downloaded in PDF format