[axiom]
she wears the snake visibly
scarf coiled around shoulders
reptile's teeth rummage through her beliefs
the bloody mouth hurts
under left clavicle

[theorem of symbiosis]
one cannot live with her nor without
she is a capricious uncomfortable lover
hard to ravage
she wears long close-fitting dresses of stinging nettle
stitched down to ankles
with cleavages tied into a Gordian knot
under earlobe

be warned: there is only one possible choice
love or hate her snake
with the same uncontrollable passion

[proof by contradiction]
and if summer absurdly decides to burst in flames
staining its lips with crimson
and faking a syncope on pillows of leaves
then there is nothing left to prove, just sing
pietà signore/ volgi i tuoi sguardi sopra di me
and hope that her fall will last until your spring

[corollary]
how time comes empty and leaves loaded
she sighs turning on the car engine
starts violently and drives on same streets
lifting in air the same flock of pink sparrows
at semaphore the snake turns red in her retina
she brakes thinking that Advil did not have any effect
on the molar erupting from wisdom's gum
anything is better than winter
at heart


Published in Bywords Quarterly Journal, May 2008