Errant Knight by Anthony Borruso

after Picasso’s sketch of Don Quixote (1955)

There is a whole romantic tradition of failing
to put this man and his moth-eaten mind
in theatres. Welles had 300,000 feet of footage 
when he succumbed to a coronary; Gilliam
was more persistent, picking the picaresque  
back up with new lead actors every decade 
or so—Depp then MacGregor then O’Connell
before concluding his fool’s quest with Driver.
Reports say that, in the drawn-out process
of shooting, the directors felt their faces
thinning and noses growing as wit escaped
through their ears, and devotions, wounds
and torments got caught up on Quixote’s
lance like a shishkabob. Which is why you delight
in Picasso’s scribbled knight, debriefing
with Sancho on a dusty knoll, three windmills 
sprouting in the distance, their quick-
stroke spokes matching the sun’s rays. As if scratched 
rapturously, madly, in just a few breaths 
between sips of café cortado. But then you
slow down and take note of the careful 
attention to posture, how a slight hunch 
intensifies besides a straight lance, how
a supine scene kicks itself upright in sunlight 
and intimates the mind’s motion. Nothing moves
quite like still life.  At this point, you stop
and ask, what period is this anyway, glancing
disdainfully over at Sancho, squat and practical
on his donkey after telling our hero to quit
his crusade and retire to the barker lounger.
What’s wrong with a little creative license? 
Why not let feeling rewrite his sunset
into a romp around La Mancha? Squiggly, 
underdrawn, yet high-headed and wielding 
a distinguished goatee, this Quixote invites 
you to cease sleeping and let dreams imprint 
on hay bales, patios, dirt roads. He urges you 
to spray Roundup on windmills, to watch
them wilt as your gaunt horse fills out 
around the ribs into the steed you need. 

Anthony is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at The University of South Florida and a co-editor of Divedapper. Winner of the 2024 Louise Bogan Poetry Award, his debut collection Splice was published in July 2025 by Trio House Press. 

27 April 2026