Burnt-Sienna Headscarf

A hen Ruddy Duck cannot resist
a burnt-sienna head with white cheeks
and blue bill, the small fish

that just vanished cannot refuse
the Angler Fish’s flaunted lure,
the spider that took up residence

on my desk cannot ignore
the quiver streaming through its web,
I cannot refuse Brenda Webster’s allure,

white cheeks under a burnt-sienna headscarf,
dark blue eyes invite my naive core
to a windowless cabin to learn my fortune,

lightening flickers above the cypress,
in candlelight the sulfuric incense
wards off dark flying things,

on the woodstove pine-tar and garlic fumes
bubble from a blackened pot
and wrap my head, in the murky

the burnt-sienna headscarf and dark blue eyes
probe my naiveté, skeletal fingers
wrap me, with a quiver I pass into the black.