Pam Thompson
Testing His Shadow
Some days he wore it inside-out
like a tail or map of sorts:
waterproofed, transparent,
its routes bubbling silver
when held up to the light.
On others, his shadow loped ahead;
he’d experiment, hold up a tent-pole,
broomstick, bin-lid, stool, so it gained height;
appendages; a second head and horns;
or, at sunset, was nearly headless.
He noticed that near candles
it scattered into velvet dust; by moonlight,
became furred, so much he’d stroke,
caress the wall, or reaching
for an embrace, clasp arms and air.
In bed he felt it crawling underneath his skin;
felt fingers slipping into his;
the drawskin bend of knees inside each thigh;
the flicker of its penis.
He’d try to stare it out then taunt it.
He’d fight; not stab nor club, but punch,
wanting to be the man who pulls
a trigger faster than his shadow;
who conquers but never kills.
A man, after all, was only as good
as the shadow he wore;
to draw around your shadow
was unlikely to fix it;
to lie down with it, nothing at all like defeat.
Page(s) 25
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