Title: chameleon

Author: Jan Wagner

In: Sport 40: 2012

Publication details: Fergus Barrowman, 2014, Wellington

Part of: Sport

Keywords: Verse Literature

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Sport 40: 2012

chameleon

chameleon

older than the pastoral staff
it drags along behind it, its crook
of a tail. come down, we call
to it on its branch, while its telescope
tongue snaps out to consume
a dragonfly constellation: an astronomer
gazing at once at the sky
and the ground, keeping his distance
from both. the dome of its eye, armour-
plated with scales, is a fortress. only
a pupil moves within, an edgy
flicker behind the arrow-slit (sometimes
you’ll find its skin, like some deserted
outpost or long-discarded theory).
come down, we call. but it doesn’t
budge, vanishing slowly among
the colours. hiding itself in the world.