you are you are you are
shaking and holding yourself as your shell-shocked body buzzes with
sleepless anxiety that sunk its fangs deep into your skull
piercing your brain

stealing last night’s dream from its marbled pink nest
venom covered bone snapping the small bird’s neck
before dragging it away
to be swallowed whole

like a snake with its unhinged jaw and
malformed neck
and grating hiss escaping
like steam from between scales that dress its body

you arm yourself with a shovel and you feel the
Crunch
of a severed spine through the handle
the vibrations melding with your skin as the ***** hits the bricks below

you kick away the bleeding head before
reaching down its throat and
squeezing the other end to push
the decomposed baby bird into your

color-drained
and
bloodstained
palm

you wince as you toss the long
gnarled and
finally motionless body to the grass
and slide the dream back into its nest

coated in acid and venom and melting through your skull
one day-- like its hunter--
this bird will grow scales and slither and steal more of you
and you will continue to shake