1975 Crocodile Handbag
One only
Republic of Kenya
Game Department
Legal Possession Number: 602485
Export allowed
The black scales
and shiny buckle
Momentarily caught the light
Almost ready for a fight
It must have been the moon
There was no street lamp
In that municipal darkness
of the South Cliffs
The park
Dark
Near the Coast
Close to the Dutch Spa building
Walking
Talking
On the way back from a wedding indeed
Trying to save on the money for a cab
A man ahead
Surely he was behind us
Before
Us
Dragged down the steps
By an arm around the neck
Scimpy clothes
Panty hose
Plenty of scope for a grope and worse
Frozen
Scared
In spite of those self defence classes
Bloody useless when disabled by sheer man weight and fetid anorak breath
Death turned his head
And said
Don't be afraid
I have made
An exception
In your direction
Whack
Crack
And a crocodile once lazily skulking in the waters of Kenya
Now proudly rears its dried out self to meet a prey of a different kind
Killed, skinned, dried and tanned
No longer slithering but flying
No mud
But thud
Contact made
This crocodile is not afraid
To be saved by a creature
From another continent
Modelled into a fashion accessory
May be necessary
In this mad world.
The meeting of skins
The conjunction of violence
Epidermis
Skirmish
Not rape
But escape
Becoming yet another unreported statistical event
