Salem

by Sameer Saklani

I.

these witches

wailing thru the night

sing Saturn songs

tarantism spells

under kaleidoscope

visions

breasts thrash asunder

thunder claps

as legs flail free

xenoglossolalia

arouse the men

and woodland beasts

wives feign deafness, husbands hide tumescence

wishing to leave

their cross behind

and wander towards

the madness

II.

night and hair

cover all

Stygian sheet

bone and fur

silken shawl

or goat fleece

chomp and gnarl

sharp incisors

rip fibrous meat

crisp damp leaves

crack under

lesioned feet

on this moon

god is beyond

these tenebrous streets