Witches and Her Other Curves

their dead eyes open in your sleep
inside your dreams silent they creep
when envy fills a heart with greed
a soul of rage is what they need
as buzzards landing near fresh meat
a vengeful outcast will end in peat



Laramidians great to small
travel round with jaguar smiles
pygmy shrew to bison tall
otter gangs invade the Nile
wolverine and tapirs call
caiman meet the crocodiles
Human evidence and edifice
crumble and reduce to bits
armadillo to quetzal:
nature's beauty above all



one touch two touch three arms four
drag you down to drown before you step on shore
benthic patient oceanic massive cold
when Grendel's mother was a kitten she was already old
Kraken is the overkill the Wendigo below
she's never gone away and she'll never let us go



like a nicotine stain over everything
detail us inside and out there will be you all over
rubbed out on the brushes and rinsed down the drain
russet and amber liquid like blood and golden tears
you're under our skin detective
sunlight-in-forest-shadow dappled deer



the cyborgs are among us
in pacemakers and in stints
a wheelchair or a pair of shades
from which the sunlight glints
in fact it's getting rather stormy
perhaps we should slow down
drydock this haphazard bucket of bolts
before we capsize and drown