Andrea Cohen

Moment of Truth
January 12, 2012 Cohen Andrea

Moment of Truth

 

A matador imagines he has

many moments of truth, those

 

moments before his final sword

play, before he and the bull part ways.

 

Then one evening, in the sky

above the arena, he sees a reddish-

 

yellow streak that mimics his cape,

and a cloud that mirrors

 

his likeness precisely. It’s a momentary

distraction above the crowd

 

that calls for blood, as the bull

is upon him. This is the critical

 

moment for the toreador: seeing

the airy man he might have been.

Andrea Cohen is the author of eight poetry collections, including Everything, Nightshade, and The Sorrow Apartments (forthcoming). She directs the Blacksmith House Poetry Series in Cambridge, MA.