Mea Conley
Mea Conley- When I was a Bullfighter
From the Column
Just a Moment
Poetry
When I was a Bullfighter
When I was a bullfighter I
Waved my red cape
Back and forth like a
Rippling sun.
You were kicking up dust and
Hollering like mad.
I couldn’t stop you.
Dust coated your bones and
Etched out maps of sinew and
Left you afraid of -
What, exactly?
Ivory silence against egg shell white
Backdrops finds us
Neutral ground where we can
Finally talk,
Matador to
Craven beast.
But I sit across from an empty chair,
In a crowded restaurant.
Cigarette smoke hangs like dread,
And I realize maybe
I was never a bullfighter
After all.