Dissecting a Unicorn

Angela Carter (7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992)
 
Angela Carter is dissecting a unicorn
If magic is blood, it contains a lot of magic.
If skin is love, it was wrapped up in love
If bones are truth, they are fractured truths.
 
She lays each part of the unicorn
In a series of different size
Stainless steel dishes.
Disassembled it loses all mythology.
 
She takes its horn and carefully
grinds it down to powder,
applying it to her cheeks and lips
and around her eyes.
a Kabuki mask in a looking glass.
 
Soon her heart stampedes… 
magic rides over truth and love
and she becomes unicorn;
a fabulous bestiality,
a woman in legendary skin.

Kevin Cadwallender

If you have any thoughts on this poem,  Kevin Cadwallender would be pleased to hear them.