longest....day....ever. kill me, please.

This one's going in the anthology to be launched next week...

GIN & TONIC

I'm a gin and tonic,
double-tall,
with a twist of lime.
I am a slow, creaking crumble
in a knotted piece of delicate bark.
I am a film-noire spagetti western
with plenty of psychedelic footage
subliminally spliced into the reel.
I am a deep, clear pond
dappled by frogs and bugs and algae
and you can see a fun-house mirror reflection in it
if you dip in a finger.
I'm a belly-dancer,
with a disembodied head
hovering above your bed
whispering sweet nothings
in your lover's ear.
I am a crescent moon...
without the man in it.
I am the divine number nine.
I am a low, baritone, machine-gun giggle
coming from a girl with red-rimmed slits for eyes,
intercepted by hiccups.
I sound like feet squishing on a wet bathmat,
the squeaky hinges of an old door.
I'm a bear caught in a mousetrap.
I am the stuff in the lines you are supposed to read between.
I'm the fuzzy, grainy, amber tint of an antique photograph.
I am five feet taller than you suspected
and five inches less than the time it takes
to go back to the begining.