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Marcel's Fisher King

MarcelA TheFisherKing 2012.jpg

Marcel Antonio, The Fisher King 

Inside his mirror the Fisher King is unable

To remember: neither Arthurian nor mythic,

Is he maimed, inutile to his many queens?

Because he is queen himself, queer

King of Comedy and Slapstick, beloved by

Moviegoers in some of his finest roles—

Sympathetic talyada, faggot nonpareil,

Rearing an orphan boy on his own,

Neither father nor mother but perfect soap,

Irresistible box-office tearjerker,

Hallmark and direct descent from komedya,

Stage show, bodabil,and the the pre-War

Opera House, which he wore like a badge

In his acting: Pathetic in his rouge and lipstick,

So demure in his heels and pink shift, 

Thus readily rewarded with audience laughter.

All this earned him the Grail of philanderers,

The hearts of pulchritudinous stars and

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Starlets, actresses and singers, wives,

With the help of his purported "electric-bulb"

Wang (it was whispered). His mind wanders 

To the sacristy of an altar-boy childhood:

The trysts with the horny teen four years his 

Senior opening her bodice for his curious 

Hands after communion. At her feet, laurel crown 

from a Holy Week procession. What does

His playmate, her buns upturned to him,

Whisper to a pair of grasshoppers skittering 

From the corners? Another memory, 

In stripes, shorts, and white socks shyly

Touches his knee insisting to be remembered.

All his girlfriends were blind or blindfolded,

Playing blind man’s buff in the buff, unable

To catch him. But the eagle with its eagle eyes

Is captive. This is how memory works:

The Fisher King is unable, inutile, maimed.

 

 

Marne Kilates

9 September 2019

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“The choice of still-life objects are completely 

arbitrary and ambiguous, and quite often meaningless 

except for the form and color they provide.”       

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                                                 —Marcel Antonio

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