Ridge hair   runny nose

snuff dipped teeth

she loves lilacs and wears

snake garters

      At sunset

she sits on an egg box

spits

at the evening’s hesitation

   You find her

in summer   quarreling

with the wind   but it isn’t the wind

alone

that knows her voice

Witness now her voice

her sign

the serpent cactus spined

and smooth as oil

caressing her neck

Witness now

the pattern of her body’s lines

the curves and undulations

the sweep

toward the hard case

of her garters

the hard eyes

that wold be there

that wouldh old you

as still as a bird

Root    lovely woman

the love of a bitter root

tea   fangs   and shells

a bitter egg

that will not hatch

all serpentine and green

but the lilac    but the lilac

determines here

the rough cast and bitter root

of everything   of everything

but the witness

But the witness

determines

the rough cast

and bitter root

of the evening’s hesitation

spit   an egg box

snake garters at sunset

wearly lilacs

snuff snot   and the line

dying

     at the crown

          of the head.