Curt Scarlet Coat — by Judson Hamilton

she stands in a curt scarlet coat 

fashioned from the plumage of a thousand cardinals.

at the sound of him, she turns from the window

(dark damp ringlets of hair

swollen charcoal marks beneath each eye – black lipstick)

at the edge of her coat,

the smudge of a dark inverted triangle between her thin thighs

a metal crank protrudes from her temple and she begins to turn it in slow, laborious revolutions

yawning in accompaniment

mouthing plumes of musical notation 

the music reaches a brief pause in its cycle - -

her torso splits and twists away 

a duplicate slips from her skin, in an identical coat of infectious red,

the same swollen rings, ebony marks & smudges

a disturbing symmetry which only intensifies

as she, too, begins to crank the handle at her temple

invoking yet another generative cycle

(jh)