Portside

Interview

By Lee Rossi

    —for James Krusoe

You find the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights

in his corner office, standing over a globe.

You're applying for the sack of some Polish city

you don't remember which, the name is unpronounceable.

He's read your dossier and letters of reference

third in your class, able to cleave opposing horsemen

from skull to sternum with a single stroke

able to deliver a full quiver

into the eyes of onrushing peasants in less than ninety seconds.

You wonder if you're good enough

for his world-class organization.

You've always dreamt of a career in pillage

ever since they took you from your burning village

and left you at the orphanage. 

He grasps your knife hand firmly, fixes you brightly with his eye

as the two of you struggle across his giant desk. 

You leave wearing a new scar along the crease of your cheek.

It's not just a job, he says.  It's family.

Lee Rossi’s latest book is Wheelchair Samurai, available from Plain View Press.  Recent poems appear in The Paterson Literary Review and The Chariton Review.  He is a member of the Northern California Book Reviewers and a Contributing Editor to Poetry Flash. This poem appeared in the Mas Tequila Review.