Laurel Canyon

by Gabriel Ridout

                              season of lost
     tooth     time                for sensible linens
let cave-air     whistle through the fibers
               like song of steel guitar

these     fairies who invade
     fairies     flock to the tunnel
     and experiment sexually     blowing
begging     toothless     to be punished

unknown     straight-haired girls
     hair down to smalls-of-backs

     girls     watch at the cave-tip
their homes are     some yards up the cliff

these girls take pictures with their minds     return
     collecting teeth     from trail                like jagged

               corn kernels     stepping over sour
fairy carcasses     purpled with blisters
     bowels stuffed with rusty forks
as final warning     to take that freak shit
                                             somewhere else

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