Gladiator Carmine Poem by Stan Petrovich

Red river exploding round the boats,
As red as the sunset expanding,
Or the blowhole of a dying dolphin,
The sanguine across my porch,
When I am inside and wounded,
Sick unto death
Of the dreariness of pallid color;
And red is the pounding of my forlorn heart-
Stay away!
Come near to me and I promise I shall make you red
As well.

As the audience gapes upon the flourish
Of a swordfight,
Where the pure white snow will never fall
Upon the frozen beard of the antihero
And, more than all,
I will not drop down ever again,
Because of the yearning for freedom from
Red.