Warzone

Town snake, he.
Town fool, I.
When we finally
Threw him away
Burned in effigy
(Did he feel that heat?
Flames licking his feet?)
It was so unsettling
In some other town,
Found,
Strutting around
His feet fine
Town wolf,
On the prowl.

Three

I have called myself a rock face
Free of fracture, cold and quiet
Yet you've slipped along this surface
Fingers finding every crack to
Climb a wall, you find each soft space
As you track a line of sweetness
Running like a coal deposit
That you recognize as weakness.

When you promised me you'd break me
I didn't realize that your smile
Was a smirk, you meant to warn me
That your body lacked a soul.

That when you left, and in your wake
You left me crumbled on the carpet
(Such a mess in my apartment),
You would take a piece, the spoils
Of this absolute destruction,
A reminder you were thorough,
That I'll never be quite whole.

Crush

It starts as a snail shell,
Cold and coiled, below the hips,
A blip so insignificant;
Now, six years after the fact,
When our laughter breathes heat
To fill that mold, to hatch
A snake, a traitor
That lifts its blunt-nosed head
To yawn as if it wakes
From a sleep so deep
We thought it dead.

Then let the hunt begin--
The statue come alive, we find,
Has set its mind to make a certain trip,
And what first tread softly
(And carried no stick)
Steps hale and hearty now,
A strong grip on its wits,
With years of quiet reruns
Of the same, specific outcome
To keep cool a hot head.

So set on its path,
Kept directly on track
By grit and steady hands
And a stiff upper lip,
Led by a flickering,
Two-pronged tongue,
With blatant disregard
For the portents of destruction--
Potent caution and heady fear--
So hell-bent on victory,
On its way to cross a line
That, once so distant,
Now seems near.

There will be no catching of
Or creeping up,
No hope to outrun
A creature on its way
To cross a gap that
For six years' sleep
Reached infinitely,
Now with every second
Is easier to leap.