Nijinsky-L'Apres-Midi D'un Faune
They shriek at you grimace behind your back
unclip their hair so it falls damp onto their shoulders.
They tittle-tattle later heated flap their hands.
You ask the unimaginable for them to reject the body landscape
a craft learnt fine tuned in flight and balance
and to reject replace with movements stark geometric.
You want them all to be figures on a Greek vase dancing
detached in profile elbows at angles no leaps no rhythmic beats
a ballet dedicated to the gesturing of the absurd.
You star as the faun half human half creature bending at the knee
heels raised head flicking from side to side neck twisting
you practise jaw jutting squinting your eyes transported.
At the dinner table Cocteau stares examines this rural god
with the legs and horns of a goat a panic episode he calls it
you say you are simply rehearsing the manners of a faun.
Years later in the sanatorium you rise prance bound
from floor onto the nurse's lap where you snuggle
bundled against breast heart the animal breathing alive.
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