El Toro (with annotations) 1CloseImageViewView image “El Toro (with annotations) 1”El Toro (with annotations) 1Uploaded August, 2024Tags listtagsnatureghostshauntingmemoryannotationscommunitycross-atlanticrural lifemarie-francespain
El Toro (with annotations) 4CloseImageViewView image “El Toro (with annotations) 4”El Toro (with annotations) 4Uploaded August, 2024Tags listtagsnatureghostshauntingmemoryannotationscommunitycross-atlanticrural lifemarie-francespain
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above the cypress, bamboo, orange,
and palms he surveys wild
(Oh, Toro, Toro,
who cut you down
into a toy?).
Stay wild and black; [*main theme of poem, of course*]
burn my eyes like weird-streaked sunset
where I drove into your heartbeats
poured like pellets whipping through the hillside trees,
my knuckles wheeling slow into those twilight spears
your devil-snorting horns flashed out;
gore from my mind each clinging phantom fact
those close-up ghosts near Andalusian roads thrust up
as I incredulous drove nearer, saw heroic blood
that minutes before had blazoned all your side
dull down to “Osborne Sherry & Brandy,” pink words for sale;
and I stiffened stupefied to glimpse you pointed at my side,
your frightful, glossy bulk reduced to tin-lid frailty:
[*My first view of roadside signs using a whole-bull image — a surprise and disappointment.*]
a momentary, nail-thin, signpost creature
breeze-blown and slapped askew
if not for humping metal stays and dingy studs
and rusty little props
(Oh, Toro, Toro
what have they done to you?)
Some silent ones could answer: not only Andalusian toys,](https://nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/manifold-cuny-api-store/store/resource/e/e/6/ee6d4f3c-13d4-4453-881a-2e3386c57596/attachment/da9cd2a48a280b263447a6adc5466855.jpg)