The Blood of the Fish by Erica Miriam Fabri

Erica Miriam Fabri

The Blood of the Fish by Erica Miriam Fabri

T.

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.

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.

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