A Hairy Situation

Photograph taken in Machu Picchu by Giuseppe Bartoli.

Its roots
are like the locks
of Medusa. Each

a venomous viper
propped into position
with its tail

coiled back,
against some stony surface
preparing to launch,

or at least propel itself further
than a rocket
screaming out of Gaza.

Tonight, amid the darkness
my roots hit me harder
than two tonnes of TNT.

They begin by wrapping tight
around my ankles
and biting deep into my femur;

from there, the venom spreads
through the femoral artery
and into the heart. Its silence

turns my soul to stone
as my eyes, like gardening scissors
cut off the serpents of deep sleep.