Gote With Sequence
it was such an off day the whole day but I brought myself
to the mat as if I were a student of the martial
arts and I was studying with a master, which I am,
and in the end I ended up burning the back
of my model without even trying even though
we made it through the entire sequence eventually,
and she hung from the bamboo with torsion
in the waist, her hips going one way and her chest
and head falling towards the ground the other way,
which made her breathing belabored and on her face
was the face of a woman who had no choice but feel
pain, reject or accept that pain, who wore a mask
of nothing but clear and true emotions, as we watched,
as I watched, proud like a mad scientist or crazy mechanic
who had just completed a complex project
with his beautiful subject, marveling at the evil plans
that he had finally brought to life and framed with bamboo,
with up lines, frictions, handcuffs, and tension,
all the elements that make the marionette seem alive,
even when she is suspended and hanging in peace.