Clarissa McFairy’s poem, La Mia Musa, was a vox poetica Best of the Net nominee in 2012.
Curtsey to a king
By Clarissa McFairy
I’ve seen so many paintings of you
and once in the zoo,
Max peered into your eyes,
mesmerized
You stepped toward the moat
dividing us
and pawed at the water,
holding his gaze
I thought you might swim
and eyed a nearby tree
as possible salvation
but how do you climb a tree
in stilettos–
not that I was wearing them,
but I was slowed down
by a spiky chill
in the air of possibility,
yet I felt no fear
when we saw a lion
in the wild today,
just a heartbeat away,
tawny as the earth
and more stately
than any king
Clarissa,
The caged, the free–loved your handling of the contrast. Fourth stanza, “in stilettos not that I was wearing them, /but I was slowed down/by a spiky chill . . .” followed by the enjambment of “in the air of possibility” are my favorite lines. Great title.
Sharon
I felt the bond of two and four legged animals. Saw the moat and the gaze. Nice!