instead of severed, stuffed deer heads and their velvety racks,
this study is mounted with pelvic girdles with jewels
embedded in the pubis and iliac crest
the kind of jewels that might inhabit treacherous fairy tale
hair combs of the decorative and lethal bent
the kind of jewels that might adorn feminine crossbows—
hot metal & rubies & chokecherries
artificed porcelain cups contain
inexplicably wobbling eggs
although tongueless in their shells
they hum glossal murmurations
*
instead of pipe smoke plumes against a backdrop
of hunter green, stinking up the taxidermy pheasants,
this study is perfumed with a slow seep
vapors from violet veins, sugar channels, baby pears
in heavy syrup and others in formaldehyde
glass jars of plucked feathers, bleach, honey, googly eyes,
silver-tapped wisdom teeth
these birdies are cuckoo clock quails
with crooked feet, battered beaks, askew springs
leaking out half-shattered necks
metallic warblings cut with turpentine
*
as pomegranates crack open and bleed out
their pulpy seeds, she molds a small bird of marzipan
to serve as candied companion piece
or does she mean to pit the misfit birds against each other
like a scaled-down yet sinister version of a cock fight
does she secrete snuff films into furtive vaults
as the eggs soak up pernicious vibrations, begin to convulse
the bitter chokecherries could be ittty bitty ball gags
if the eggs had mouths if the eggs had hands
the porcelain pocills could be tiny pillories
her poison-dipped nib quivers with anticipation
*
to blow out their guts, truss them to a tree,
behold with perfidious glee another batch
of these ornately stained carapaces
*
instead of a strapping sporting scene,
albumen slithering down the walls
