The serpent brushes over my neck, slithering down my back.
I shiver, hearing the faint whisper in the dark night.
Crystal blue pools fill the eyes,
blue sapphire gems fall from the sight.
Blurred thoughts move the stars,
Emotion filled clouds cover the sky.
The serpent slithers back hissing in the ear,
it can't be controlled.

take it.
go ahead, take it.
it won't harm you.
i dare you.

The evil serpet lies as it slithers down my back.
It's hiss and whispers send chills through my body.
I am stiff,
I am rigid.

I said take it.
You will achieve great happiness.
Just outstretch your arms,
and it will be yours.

Mind turns to greed,
My eyes turn red like the blood of the serpent's prey.
I open my arms, letting myself feel the power hit me,
knocking me to the ground.

See here,*
For you have taken what wasn't yours.
You have played my little game,
and for that, you shall pay.

I lay on the ground, blinking in confusion.
My eyes. They fill with water, they drain their color.
I cry red, hot, fiery tears that burn as they roll down my face.
This. This is the least pain I deserve.

A whisper of green,
A show of scale
Flickering tongue,
And whiplash tail

A facade fixed upon your face
Oh how you blend in with us, human race
The one thing that really gives you away
Is the toxins running through my veins

And let me down easy but do break my heart
Otherwise I'll never know if I should chase after y'all. And the longing comes nightly, the bourbon rings twice, every time I'm out living, y'all stop me from dying. But a man is worth pennies when his work is the dirt, and I've never known forgiveness I've only ever known hurt.

With my skin on the desert, my hands cut from the piste. If a man's responsible for fire, then it must be woman who's made the stream. Everything is an eyesore when plague cuts at your flock, and the shepherd is aching to be rid of his cloth, the end of evil corrupts it, the sheriff he breaks his own laws. They take all that they want, leave you to look up to the dust, you can't sustain the pains of heartache, you words shorter while you talk. So please take it away, the flat and the plains. And only fires concern them, water drowns for them and cries. I don't need no one to listen, no one to soften my eyes. I've been bit by the river, it's taken my breaths. Filled my chest full of water, brought my time to new depths. I saw the valley, and I saw the moors. I saw the valley, just tell me, will she be here tomorrow? I've seen the valley, and I've seen the moors, just please won't you tell me, will she be here tomorrow?

artist's hands press her solidly
to a brilliant kaleidoscope of elegant golden bones and glittering skin;
strong palms resting with easy power
on the pliant wilderness of her hips,
heavenly flesh blossoming recklessly
into lush riots
of honeysuckle and savage roses.

from a little girl's shy smile he coaxes
the untamed laughter and rapturous moans of a grown woman's
wild pomegranate mouth;
licks tears of wondering ecstasy from widening, curious eyes,
pulls from her hips the feral undulations that, unchecked,
could unravel a tyrant's paradise.

he offers knowledge,
a sticky, illicit fruit into which she sinks
her
pretty white teeth.

deep crimson juice flows in starry rivulets  
from softly parted lips to heaving ribs,
traverses gently a milky expanse
of breath and taut muscles,

halting to illuminate suddenly
a glowing womb,
freshly radiant with new life.

The Elders took me to church
and planted me on the back row
to squirm and fidget
while they filled my head with stories
of women like Delilah,
          who seduced Sampson
          and used her body
          to weaken a warrior,
and Bathsheba,
          whose nakedness upon her own roof
          made David falter
          from king to killer,
but told me that I will lose
value after I grant a man
permission–should he even ask–
to lay his hands on me,
as if the priest and prosecutor
could preach purity
into my dry bones
and watch me rise up before them
without ever having realized
the power I possess
within my own rib cage.

*"And the serpent said unto the woman,
'You will surely not die."

Poison
The First
The Serpent
The Water
The venomous black ink
Slithers endlessly
Silently
Until she reaches her prey
Power
The Second
The Demon
The Fire
The burning red ember
Watches now
Patiently
As her victim is drawn to her warmth
Sorcery
The Third
The Conjurer
The Wind
The Shadow Of The Night
Needs only
To exist
And her casualty swarms to her allure
A trifecta binds, seeking
A fourth
The man
The earth
The flesh and the bone
A host and a home
A willing sacrifice
Falling victim to her charm
Silently striding to his own demise
He succumbs completely
She devours wholly
The elements are in order
The black magic witch is born

Watching from beyond, writing their little notes.
Look behind the brainstem and see the past perfect present tense.
You thought about it and I heard it. We grabbed the thoughts.
New bones and muscle.
All the different ones, all the same thoughts pulsing, like brain radar bounding back.
They're of me. they're in me.
But he is not.
The serpent retains it's form but it stays inside. It blinds my dreams.
No escape, let craving; an eternal void.
As it all becomes one form and function. We join. We are the new being, hideous and beautiful.
I think he has taken my soul. I probably wasn't using it anyway.
I am his disguise.