Slumped into the late linen
sniff scent of stiff cigarette
burned into the chair
Hey, she used to be there
per fumigation
embalmed
momentary into the chair

The ceiling is shifting like little snakes
whisky balm in a sweating glass
I haven't touched it, it's watering down
down into water and alco-seltzer
to ease my grumbling soul

Those snakes,
turning and writhing in the ceiling
where is she?
I smell her
forked tongue

You can't smoke inside anymore
not even in the old buildings already full
tar roof, tar boots, tar toys in the evening booth
french fries dipped in milkshake
sprinkled with salt and glucose

mmm good for the muscles
and the throat

she loved doing that kind of stuff,
weirdly enough.

sweat on my fingers
breathing heavy
studying the snakes with the bright eye
of a Darwinian belief

they will die,
I will die,
but not before we fulfill
our seething purpose

they lost their wings?
Is that why the Chinese
and the Greeks
and the Norse
and the Volks
and the Rabbinicals
claimed punishment was befit a creature
so little, yet so dangerous

(Monkey in the tree no snake will eat me)

to be swallowed whole and digested
born to die, fed to be born
ouroboros

slithering her **** tail
into the mouth of heaven
for a second
then shuttled out the door

it is dark as onyx in the night
the stars shine like scales above
searching for the right snake
to emanate
and create
new life
for once