Rachel Blau DuPlessis

Large green-tailed lizard, zucchini-mottled flicks and swirls. But, no! It’s not some random lizard: that’s the snake! A rill of water falling up the stone, he’d heard my light, quick foot     as human-hard. And the dream? that wildly handsome man who had no wife,     his wife had “gone away” (but where?)     so he wanted to meet more     women he needed help    with his decor, his place was encumbered with little ceramic, clay- kitsch banalities —      I did not see the snake’s head, since it faced away.     I could not fix it being vipera or serpente. That question hinged on poison in his mix. From what I saw, though, ’twas a very handsome snake. • Options: “scaled to the human boy” or was it “scaled to the human body”? Which did I write? Options: Desire? temptation? yearning for danger? thralldom? lust? You can add to the list yourself. You can add yourself to the list. Options: Teasing enchantment. “How still the Riddle lies.” Options: Insistent     “Shaft”     “a tighter Breathing” The sibyl’s many leaves are laurel made for wreathing.