excess and stanzate

freaks

devils in the sideshow.

the snake lady said
they put her tongue in her mouth.

they rolled like screws through cork,
a bicolored pinwheel: red and yellow,
she told it, oiling up her skin translucent.

she smiled and when her hips moved a thousand lights
off the sequins. she was curved with light and dull gold, sheathed
in it. like a dagger. there was devils in the sideshow
they said and i heard them. the snake lady said

they put her tongue in her mouth and she smiled so
when she said it. she was caught out in gold pure and dull.
filigree like little discs in light. she was oiled sheer.

she was glancing like the pinwheel: further and further through.
she was smiling and oiled. light dripped on her, pooled, rolled.

that heavy snakes tail. in the red and yellow dusk.