begins in the half dark
with a six inch huntsman spider
exploring my chair,
ends with a Laotian girl,
with all the charm
of sibylline eyes,
wearing a fourteen inch centipede
as a writhing, living bracelet
that digs its claws into her slender arm.

In between,
courtesy of Thomas Edison,
there are Greensleeves, carols, 
white Christmases,
and red-nosed reindeer
in different kinds of English
and Chinese fireworks.

(poem from BAMBOO LEAVES)