I Tell the Old Woman - Mary Bast

12" x 9" x 3/4"
Mixed Media/Collage
 
I Tell the Old Woman To Dip Her Own Pail in the Well
 
Like the little girl in the fairy tale
I get wrong-ways of a witch.
 
Frogs and snails
fly from my mouth,
stirred in a serpent’s brew,
anger the spoon.
 
Words, those erstwhile pearls
grown tawdry, become wild
flashers, serrate the air,
whistling their dark way South.
 
Without the least regret,
I ache to taste the profane.