Adam Hanover, “Toreo

The Opiate, Summer Vol. 18 Toreo

I. tercio de varas

Prisons have no pageantry only ritual and on Monday afternoons the fiesta begins and leads to an open circle

which is not quite a panopticon because this is all pageantry and the bull knows for sure it is not being watched

next to a torero whose language needs no translation He’s a villain this bull charging from an arbitrary querencia

to gore the horses staining the hot sand with his bravura Hail the conquering maestro with the crimson muleta

II. tercio de banderillas

Details Goya never showed you the bull five years old brown eyes downcast shoulders slumped too tired

to charge too proud to lay down collecting banderillas on slumped shoulders until

his head finally bows and the aficionados hurry to count the picks Fifteen in case you were curious A noble performance worthy

of a violent wave of handkerchiefs from the crowd and an awarding of an ear to the maestro but no indulto for the bull

III. tercio de muerte

In Portugal they show mercy and slaughter the bull away from the eyes of the crowd but Spain

is weighed down by its traumatic history and thirsts for redemption through a decadent art form a sacrifice

to unknown deities whom this bull might meet first Deities who could name the nameless give power to the dispensable

and clothe the naked in the brilliant gold of the maestro the brave one whose estocada gives voice to this bull you could never understand 82.