-Cada uno lleva su cruz-

skinning the rabbit, ted inverts the inverted glove until the long hand of muscle falls from its grip of loose blood, clutching the grin of this morning’s funniest execution. slain by the sling ted’d made of malena’s old hose, the bunny tumbled with its fate-stone thrown clear through dark bush to headlighted street, ted waving traffic to a halt to retrieve it
by deafwarm ears to malena and dante’s cheering as for a goal. the dawn dome of planetarium rose to a glow by sun’s flush hole as they bore the corpse like some world-leader with eyes struck open home.

ted knifes the belly, scoops its coils and jellies in a system to the sink, the other two toasting long life/short death as ted decouples the head’s last permanent link. dante jumps

(he will always claim) (the thing) (blinked)

the candled air of the whole long flat rubs the windows with its sweat: ginger, clove and cardamon escaping the pot towards the black rhyme of ted and malena’s hair ted’s elbows on the table and dante’s perplexing stare in the ruby swirl of wine malena’s got she tells of the trouble with men and dante says we know a willing lesbian she shakes her head: i need something i can sink these teeth into (with a wink) hefting her breasts in the low-cut dress she jokes what about these? don’t you ever miss them on a winter’s night? dante frowns i swear i even eschewed huge dugs as a whelp i would not suck at mother’s milk and father’s mams were black with glossy felt, he giggles at ted who growls: not while i’m eating malena says Cocho kept peacocks when i was thirteen they would not breed, which made them twice precious, bleating in the courtyard even earlier than those ugly cocks, casting spectacular shadows like beardsley engravings on the opaline gravel around the villa, occasional prey to a fox our indian shot presenting it to mother who wore it to the opera like a (draining her wineglass) (with seductive indolence) queen

driven by the spirit of the rabbit or by the devil possessed, ted proposes a contest: whoever kisses best will follow ted to bed whilst the other does dishes. dante hisses you bitches and kisses malena on the mouth, vomitting chilean flags and passing out

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