artwork: marc chagall
EQUESTRIENNE
by
Paula Anderson
after seeing the 1931
painting by Marc Chagall
I
want to ride in Chagall’s circus
embraced
by the man in a green tuxedo
filling
the richness in his circle of arms.
Floating
atop a gentle white mare
her
back plush in a paisley blue rug
cradling
a fiddle beneath her chin.
Parade
round the tent bare breasted
in
my frock of salmon pink sequins
waving
my red paper fan to the
cacophony
of cheers and violins.
No
tricks for us, just round and round
circling
in the piles of soft sawdust
in
a ring like lips on a laughing mouth.
Draw
the fuchsia flower from my hair
fling
it to the fiddler on the trapeze walk
and
kiss the moon as we drift by.
~
first published in International Icarus,
Lighter than Air
