Snake Charmer
You play your flute
maybe strum a guitar
I rise out of the basket
enchanted by the sound
or maybe just hungry
I slither across the white tiled floor
my skin taut and flexing
I hiss at your friends
—the ones you shove me back
into the basket for
You only want me around
when you are lonely
when you make your
sweet musical sounds
and persuade me to coil
around your hips wrap myself
around your penis
Today I want a rat to eat
I shed my skin and now
I’m scaled a high shine
the light makes me iridescent
I’m slick black and deadly
I wait in my basket for you
to come in with your flute
and coax me out
But you leave me alone
I’m still hungry
What will you do
when I outgrow this little hut
make a boot or two out of me?
