she was coated
with green muck-slime
mixed with brown
a camouflaged soldier
gnarled roots stabbing ground
at her muddied bivouac
laughing at tact, lunging with zest
limbs sprawling wide
as if calling to heaven
her arbor request
to halt fungus and scales
from their molestations
as out her pores they spill
parasitic on her body, alive
imposing their will
I split the hard wood and
color explodes
rings shout to life
sable amidst bright
yellow rife with secrets
where exposure is fresh
she sweetens the air
the sawdust flies
as blade shreds flesh
and I can shape her
into a rocking horse
or park bench
or a desk at which
to quench my parchment
an exhibition of lust,
a behest to her beauty
reduced to possession,
her prizes relinquished, spent
used, torpid and stale
no addition of rings
nor spreading new scent
now hollow in color
marred by spackle and stain
no mystery left within
arthritic, contorted in pain
she stood in
the forest picturesque
now in her nakedness
sallow in my cabin
lays awkward
wronged and grotesque.
