Anaconda, Largest Snake in the World, Kills by Constriction

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           a kaddish

I.


It might have been you
in that dream
in that car
piloting the white convertible
like a land-locked plane
over the Austin hills...
you, straddling the white line
at 3AM, screaming "DO YOU LOVE ME?"
The wind sending your words 
like a banner behind you.

It must have been me sitting 
buck naked on the rolled up top
my arms flung out
my legs spread wide
feet looped behind the seat
Safety from flying 
in the face of the sky
each time there was a dip
in the Bee Caves Road.

Anaconda rolls like water, boiling...


II.


I used to wonder why you liked to roll 
with me in the boneyard.  
Why the scent of pine and rose
and honeysuckle sent you coring 
deep thru my flesh like a burrowing mole 
looking for the sweetest root.
How you never noticed that I shivered 
in the heat of summer when you parted my legs,  
that the scent of decay preceded you 
pushing to my womb before you
leaving a layer of death, salting the soil.

I used to wonder how the sight of me, 
rocking into cold marble, 
arms grasping the monuments
bleeding on red granite,
could make you weep...
could make you cradle me, 
rock me, singing, 
"Baby...Baby...Baby"

Anaconda rolls like water, boiling
coils loop around ankles
living tattoo
                                                                                  

III.


I have opened like a bowl for you
I have split my skin like a wet, ripe husk
muskmelon orange
tomato red
sweet warm pulp, blood purple
I have moved aside,
leaving you room to crawl 
inside 
my skin     
a shell
I have said, in jagged whisper,
"Do you love me?"
My words falling down my mouth 
like pebbles down a well.

there is no peace
there is no peace
there is no peace 

Anaconda rolls like water, boiling
coils loop around the ankles
living tattoo
slipping 'tween the thighs
curling up the spine
squeezing fat from tissue
marrow from the bone.  
A stealthy thief ....Anaconda 
steals my sleep like thunder.

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© 1998 Brenda Moossy