Panther by Ania Walwicz | HEAT magazine | Poetry 1998

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panther

i dream that i have a panther i have a panther now black panther who is my little pet now who is my pet i like it like that how much is this doggy in the window tell me now i was lonely but now i’m not lonely i have a panther with me big and slinky smells catty smells musky to me and soft short fur shiny oily the short hair of the silky cat huge cat i like the like that i like it like that now she lies next to me in bed the huge pan the huge black panther now my own darling that i have a pet i have a friend now i’m not lonely anymore i lead her on a chain around a collar a leather collar now on me the cat on a chain the chain of a love the cat the huge black panther is enormous the gigantic the pouncing padding near me walking a dog near me the huge and black delight and delight my hand in hers the huge black with green eyes the beautiful pet near me right near me the image near me what does this mean to me i write this down now now i write this is say this what does it mean me tell me now the huge enormous beautiful lovely with green eyes shining bright tyger the burning that i’m in that burning bright in the forest the panther me the black panther meaning that meaning that the boxer leads me now the i become what i see what i am i become what i dream a out in my dream down a stairway the i come down i’m a altar alter the who i am now i walk down stairs a body my body of a bodybuilder the walk down stairs now walking my body very strong now i buy furs fake furs now black and shiny thick furs now a jacket how do you like it i like it i like it now i like this i like doing this i like saying this now i’m a tyger now i become another the unstable self the self in process progress tell me why who i am i walk down the stairs a bodybuilder my body built now my body restored now i was panther done in i remember this i used this image before and before now once i painted this i was a panther only a head than i was a panther a black panther knife in my head now only a head a torn off head torn off i was killed by a hunter somebody kills me now i’m only only a head the knife the combat knife sticks out my neck panther done in then i was a panther any longer i was trap in a trap i look back there wasn’t anyway i could get out of it i was trapped in a pit on in in a pit of snakes i trapped in a pit in a pot pol in a pit pol in a pool in a trap by my foot and my paw they tear my head off the panther done in that was in my picture a tattoo a looly lolly on my my skin in church street where i lived i was only a head a talking head to you you didn’t know me at all you don’t even know me really i was a panther sliced off only a head that talks with a knife in my throat i was like that there was no body to have my body taken away to make fun to make money to make merry to make somebody happy but not me my panther body taken away from me what was taken away from me the happy slinky body of a fi furry body that was taken away put down torn not given water to drink starved and alone that was not touched i untouched the far away from me the body dissociated the the distance from the head only a head when you’re a head stay at the head only a head in a basket the panther with a head bloody torn that knife in my skull the panther that was kill kill and thrown now comes back ready made the lady sliced in half in half returns to me the magician tricks and i return looking better and brighter and younger than before the water hen comes back the panther returns now the tyger now burning bright returns to me now the tyger and the panther i chose animal signs the they return me the panther that walks by my side attached by a chain of the chain of a love that returns to me now the panther that’s with me near me with me near me in me the i that was only a the eye head the body rejoins me the body the my body torn away comes back to me i was a panther done in the panther head bloody knife sticks the stuck out my head now now the my body the comes they the my body comes back to me the my the my one that waits for me the my pet the my one the little one the my one lying on a couch and stretching out now next to me embrace the black and curvy the huge panther near me the my pet now sleeping on my side near me walking every where with me i become what i’m meant to be i become another and another now i put a fur i try it out look mirror now here comes i the magic cat act i transform to another i become i become always more and another stage nigredo the blackness black soft firm hair short hair of a head the warm body that sinuous curve the  high heel shoe black all black black fur warm near me i enter and i enter i become and i become another i become that’s what near very near i become another not myself now i lead the panther lady on a chain of a love near me near me as big as me and bigger she purrs now purrs purrs now i just i hi hold her chain the collar round my neck we become just similar familiar the become another my legs soft paws now my legs of paws the soft paws now i become the my head green eye i become i become what i want to be now what i’m meant i become the in the embrace now the what said me what says me now what returns my body what acts it out i act out i become longer longer i become another metamorphosis my arms just stretch out sit up straight now my neck gets longer and longer werewolf i grow fangs i become i what i’m meant to be what is meant to me what is owed to me what i should have had what i want to be i become the longer body stretch body a whole body made of words my body wordy stretches out in black inside black fur now fangs my teeth large teeth i speak but i speak but soon i’ll growl soon the worlds will be at edge of words not words but objects i become another self that was in me and deep in me that i’m meant to be my signe the one i was assigned that one that comes in my dreams the one that comes to me that the one that leads me the black lady i become a i veer i become another the heart beats my heart the heart very hot now the heart heart beater the harty the hearty the heart the big read heart now and i breath the big breath now i become another i become a tyger tyger i become the panther i open my big red mouth with fangs my words speaky wordy turn to what i turn to henri chopin i turn to i turn into my words that turn to deeper now that turn to what turns to deeper now that turns to me the vovels deeper now the words become objects the what i say says me the signifier and the signified same now the words become estranged now the words become short be short that turn to that body the slink the slinky body that turns to i was angry and now i’m angry i turn to i was angry and now i’m angry i turn to they took my body i turn to they took a life of my won own they took me i turn to i was done wrong and wrong i turn to i become a panther now i turn to what says me what was done to me i turn to i turn to what says me now i become to me i turn to a war cry now war cry turn to tom toms turn to war cry i become somebody

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