This poem is taken from PN Review 243, Volume 45 Number 1, September - October 2018.
Three Poems
The Matchstick Man
takes great leaps
on his one pale leg.
Bounds with relish,
saltates with snap,
florid, russet-haired,
bulbed like a baster,
slubbed with sulfur.
He smiles dithyrambs,
ardent as a dog,
ecstatic to see me.
Suddenly, he leaps,
spins to a headstand,
grovels along the emery –
a long, intense
nuzzle of the head
until it flicks into flame.
...
takes great leaps
on his one pale leg.
Bounds with relish,
saltates with snap,
florid, russet-haired,
bulbed like a baster,
slubbed with sulfur.
He smiles dithyrambs,
ardent as a dog,
ecstatic to see me.
Suddenly, he leaps,
spins to a headstand,
grovels along the emery –
a long, intense
nuzzle of the head
until it flicks into flame.
...
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