Still Water
Prose Poems
Copyright @ 1989 by Arthur Garfunkel
ISBN 0-525-24795-5
Used by persmission of Author - All Rights Reserved
36
Cockfighter, the movie; "Rooster Vil-
lage," her jacket; there's been a rooster
reverie running with me.
Perhaps it started with Joyce last year
and his "husbandly hand under hen." Then
the rooster appeared as a bird to me, an odd
one, but all the same a bird…a word more
than game to me, the bantam quality pro-
voking me, the red comb dangling, tickling
me with the thought of genitalia, the rude
erection of the rooster's neck—the tearing
cry of her morning call—all fierce expres-
sions of the spirit of the bird, la gloire, the
French would say.
Today I passed the chantecler at the
Ambassade d'Angleterre atop the gate in
gold. Angry like the eagle, released from
barnyard play, the rude bird rips the day-
break calm with torch-fire, mixing mem-
ory, brave and pathetic, with desire.
ParisJuly 1984