Suffocated by mirrors, stained by dreams
     her honey belly pulls the seams
     curves are still upon the hinge
     pale zeros tinge the tiger skin
 
     moist as grass, ripe and heavy as the night
     the sponge is full, well out of sight
     all around the conversations
     icing on the warm flesh cake
 
     light creeps through her secret tunnels
     sucked into the open spaces
     burning out in sudden flashes
     draining blood from well-fed faces
 
     desires form in subtle whispers
     flex the muscles in denial
     up and down its pristine cage
     so the music, so the trial
 
     vows of sacrifice, headless chickens
     dance in circles, they the blessed
     man and wife, undressed by all
     their grafted trunks in heat possessed
 
     even as the soft skins tingle
     they mingle with the homeless mother
     who loves the day but lives another
     that once was hers
 
     the worried father, long lost lover
     brushes ashes with his broom
     rehearses jokes to fly and hover
     bursting over the bride and groom
 
     and the talk goes on
 
     memories crash on tireless waves
     the lifeguards whom the winter saves
 
     silence falls the guillotine
     all the doors are shut
     nervous hands grip tight the knife
     in the darkness, till the cake is cut
     passed around, in little pieces
     the body and the flesh
     the family and the fishing-net
     and another in the mesh
 
     the body and the flesh