Sibling Rivalry
Sister says
I don’t, I don’t want no snakes on me. But put them worms around me & I’m a princess of slender slippery sounds, got a carriage without wheels that slides in rain. Got a half-shaped brother swoonin’ for gals in mags, a great fat pumpkin croonin’ love songs soft & low. You talk la-la I’m gone through smoky mirrors & beaded curtains while you’re hopin’ to shave your face. One hair, two hair, three hair four—baby brother you’ll never have no more.
Brother says
Rhythmic Orion, my favorite friend, comes wrapped in chains, changes them to sheets, unwraps like angel food cake—no layer shows. He shows in the night, when I am asleep, when I take pants off he puts them on. A regular clothes thief. He makes me cry & he makes me laugh, he gives me guns to shoot the champs. & the champs go “oh” & “oh” & blink off their prizes. Rhythmic Orion strips off his belt & the stars spill in my hand.
Sister says
Baby brother’s got a gap in his face that needs fillin’ fast. You watch the walls move, I’m busy. Don’t talk to me about culinary angels & don’t tell me the ways of the sun—you got a nerve slitherin’ like eel breath, I’m gonna scuttle that steam. No years old & he wants to know where he’s at. Honey, I been through that. I’ll knock the stars off your hair. Macho doggies, that’s how I end—that’s what the last word bam-bam said.