• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Painted Bride Quarterly

  • About
    • About PBQ
    • People
  • Issues
    • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
    • Print Annuals
  • Podcast
    • Latest Podcast
    • All Podcasts
  • News & Events
  • Submit
  • Shop
  • Fiction
  • Poetry
  • Prose
  • Contributors
  • Current Issue

Roger Camp: Motion Assignment,     La Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas, Madrid

October 27, 2014 by PBQ

1/1000 of a sec:
t  h e b u ll b ur sts in to th e ri n g
               s w ay ing coj on es fr o ze n
                              to h is hi n d le g.
1/500 of a sec:
Mass ive shoul ders rais e the mon u men tal
          hea d, a bu st as pro ud as any Po pe’s,
               m ount ed in the corr i dors of t he Vat i can.
1/250 of a sec:
The pic a dor’s lanc e arrest ed in mid thr ust,
     his f ace con tor  ted in con cen tra tion.
1/125 of a sec:
On his toes a banderillo places the banderillas,
his hands dancing above the flailing sticks.
1/60 of a sec:
     Working thecape, agraceful veronica,
its sweepingblur encasing the colorblind bull.
1/30 of a sec:
                         Thematador’s goldembroidered suitoflights,
          trajedeluces, a smearof goldenlight
appliquéd tothe blackbull.
1/15 of a sec:
                                        Onhisknees,
thebull’snostrilsblowingblood
          thematadorwithmuletaandsword,
ablearydeathawashinred.

Filed Under: Contributors 90, Issue 90, Poetry, Poetry 90 Tagged With: Contributors 90, Poetry, Poetry 90, Roger Camp

Primary Sidebar

Recent News & Events

PBQ @ AWP!

PBQ Poet’s Publishing Premier: Carlos Andrés Gómez’s Fractures

Issue 100 Has Arrived!

Temporarily Closing Submissions

PBQ presents: Slam Bam Reboot

© 2020 Painted Bride Quarterly. Contact PBQ: info@pbqmag.org