In one mouth hangs a bleeding
black tongue.
The other whores a sweet venom.
And both breathe air that rots
and turns to dust.

She lies in her thorny lair,
head buried, shitting
yokeless, fragile stones.

With one eye watching the sky
she gleans her stillborn births,
devouring her defecations
as sacrament, as rite.

And yet she smiles
knowing

In the dark shade, hidden in the sun,
beat the wings of a biblical bird,
lightning in its beak,
talons seeking to sepaerate
word from wretched flesh.