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hatband    

          tongue
     guiding
snake as
     slave
          will guide
                  master
     gliding
first into
     danger
          poison-tester,
               prey-finder
unarmed
     and un-
            armored
       older than
                 sight –

          servant
     to curving
teeth and
     scaled muscle
          to dune-
               climber,
sidewinder
     constricting
                 in waves,
sand-patterned
     like
          Navajo
               beadwork
        in the
hatband
     of a
          carved
               cottonwood
                    man


© 1990 by Beth Stevens