The Fall of November twenty twenty -- page 6

Snake Dancing

lamps burn a brightly dark light

inside the forest where squirrels play

down the windy dirt path to the clearing

covered in pine needles like bundles

of straw grass freshly cut,

boulders the size of log cabins stand

erect forming a circle, parallel 

covered in green moss from

the bottom and half way up,

creatures without clothes jump up and

down like ballet dancers with

poisonous snakes in their hands

with dried mud covering their bodies

painted various shades of red on white,

and as they sexually undulate to

some unseen partner, the partial

light catches their swaying breasts

and their arms moving down

between their legs making guttural

sounds like a wounded animal trying

to escape the clutches of their captors

and their wanton desires until a

long echo groans and moans through

the forest trees...  the creatures fall

and loose the snakes they were holding;

turning on their backs, breasts falling to their sides

arms reach up to the heavens beckoning...

a light rain falls and the lamps end their glow,

crickets and frogs are the only sounds made,

as the dancer's bodies dissolve into the ground, 

the boulders reduce in size until they disappear,

the clearing is no clearing as tall trees 

cover up all that was there and my eyes

return to an open position and I see that

I am in my home safely and still in bed.

29 November 2020