Christina Frei<\/p>\n
Their twisted forms
\njump from the walls of
\nNotre-Dame cathedral
\nas if on springs,<\/p>\n
jack-in-the box
\nmonsters, the stuff of
\nnightmares. They thrive
\non fear, eat their young<\/p>\n
and defecate limestone.
\nThey screech and howl
\nas if in pain,
\nand when it rains<\/p>\n
they vomit water,
\nletting it stream
\nonto passersby,
\na joke by their creator.<\/p>\n
Dragons, boars,
\nevil dwarves, demons,
\nall beaks and horns,
\nlike the illustrations<\/p>\n
from the gothic volumes
\nin my grandfather\u2019s
\ncigar-fogged study
\nwhere he composed
\nhis Sunday sermons
\nand kept dead flies
\nin a blue vase on his desk.
\nHe had a bad temper<\/p>\n
which taught me
\nhow horrifying
\nhuman faces can appear
\nwhen angered.<\/p>\n
On a trip to Paris in the 80s
\nmy boyfriend and I
\nstayed in a dingy
\nback-alley hostel<\/p>\n
with blood-stained sheets,
\nnear the Gare du Nord.
\nWe followed the Seine
\nto Notre-Dame cathedral,<\/p>\n
reveled in the candle-lit
\natmosphere of decay,
\ntook polaroids
\nof the chimera Victor Pyanet<\/p>\n
conceived in 1864,
\nlike a mad scientist,
\nfrom blocks of granite.
\nLike evil workmen<\/p>\n
perched on scaffolding,
\nthey are all silent hoots
\nand cat-calls.
\nWomen shouldn\u2019t
\npay attention to this
\nkind of flattery; it
\ncould get them into trouble.
\nOne, it seemed,<\/p>\n
was devouring its young:
\na grotesque, <\/i>I was told,
\nwhich unlike
\ngargoyles<\/i>, were not<\/p>\n
used to shunt water,
\nbut existed solely
\nto induce terror,
\nto bode ill; guilt purged<\/p>\n
from the inner
\nsanctum, ridding itself
\nof something unnamable,
\nunwanted, unloved.<\/p>\n
Gargoyle: from the French
\nGargouille = throat.
\nGrotesque = ghastly,
\nnot quite human.<\/p>\n
CHRISTINA FREI <\/b>grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada, and has been living as an ex-pat with her family since 2001, both in Senegal and the Netherlands. Her poetry has been published in Red River Review<\/i>, Turbulence Magazine<\/i>, Bareback<\/i>, Apple Valley Review<\/i>, the Inflectionist Review<\/i>, Kansas City Voices<\/i> and Sterling Magazine<\/i>. She is currently nominated for a 2015 Pushcart prize, Best of the Net 2013, and a Best New Poets award.
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Christina Frei Their twisted forms jump from the walls of Notre-Dame cathedral as if on springs, jack-in-the box monsters, the stuff of nightmares. They thrive on fear, eat their young and defecate limestone. They screech and howl as if in … Continue reading