i.

lion holds the door for you
wants to make eye contact but
pretends you don’t even have a face
she lets you slip away
forgotten in the fog

snake holds the door also
grins proud
says “you’re welcome”
says “have a nice day”
saw what model car you drive
notes what brand of shoes you wear
just in case

ii.

lion doesn’t have the right words
copies off hermione’s paper
or sits at home with a still-blank page
empty/angry/stubborn

snake has shit to say
less time to say it in
knows you need to understand
the way she has the whole world
clicking together like hallelujah
sunbeams touch the rolling hillsides
greened because she saw them
clearly, watch those flowers
blooming, each one a poem
ready to be gathered
iii.

lion stays in bed
inhabits the cramped spaces
stuck between mattress, wall
waking, sleeping
dusk, dark, dawn
waiting to feel as brave
as people say she is
a tiny tired hero
continuing to breathe

snake levitates three feet
above the crumpled bedding
floating demon buzzing breathfull
a vast expanse in her chest cavity
expanding like a super
nova

iv.

lion is the cancer and snake is the gemini
though lion scoffs at cusp days
star-study is too witchy for lion
too superstitious, too whatever
lion walks past the tarot reader
doesn’t touch the crystal
says “who cares,
i’m a muggle anyway”
snake knows the truth
the pinpricks dance to her command
answers are everywhere she looks
she reads the sky like a written thing
snake knows she is devilry
feels the alchemy of her body
shift lion, snake, lion, snake
a one-or-the-other tumbling coin

v.

on the first day
on a stage
in a hall
of a castle
the hat listened to her carefully
bade her make a choice
and she answered “both”
just like the snake she is