Anime club asked for another love poem this year,

[Bouvre]

so I wrote a persona poem in sonnet form based on Yuri on Ice.

 

It also got picked up at a small publication. It can be read here, where it's accompanied by a screenshot that helps clarify the poem's occasion:

http://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-review/the-pole-to-its-dancer-by-ethan-leonard

 

 

The Pole to Its Dancer

    For Katsuki Yūri

 

Look, there is only one way this is going to go:

After sixteen flutes of champagne, you’ll approach

Viktor, say, “if I win this dance-off, please be my coach,”

and soon you’ll forget there was even a yes or no.

I'm not about memories. I'm slim steel. The room spins

when I attend any event. I've flipped men upside down

too many times to count to have a reason to count

even you. But ice skating was never a matter of reason,

was it, Yūri? Does your head hurt, is your gut telling you

this was a bad idea? Try to throw up with your head up,

and it only makes a mess of your good pant cuffs.

Yūri, let yourself go but hang on. Love, even true

love, can slip. Your program requires four quads.

If you’re as dizzy as you were then, I've done my job.