The Blood of the Fish by Erica Miriam Fabri

The Blood of the Fish
Erica Miriam Fabri

                for Gustav Klimt

The painter is beautiful because he can see
the sway of a woman in a water snake. He names
a painting Hope and means with child. To him,
Eve is not the bedmate of a serpent, she is a soft,
china-colored body for Adam to rest on. What is
Voluptuousness? A pot-belly. Excess? A river
of red hair. Poetry is a girl swimming in a white dress.
Love is a gypsy. Sleep is a witch. The most beautiful
girl in Vienna gave him her first kiss. She went to him
to find out what beauty was. And so, he covered her
in a blanket of carnations. Every woman he painted
had daisies sewn into their curls. What exactly does
a kiss do to a girl? It makes her face fold over,
and her toes turn like scallops in the grass.

MARGINALIA

Dear R.,

Two years ago, a flood. My country cried, and bodies of water separated us. Do you remember that painting? A storm-gift, you said. It stands by my wall, reminding me of how little the world is. And how large, still.

What I would give to learn how to swim, just to be beside you.

Yours,
T.