Every deal you make in life is a deal with the devil
An air-filled lung, a beating heart, flesh and blood are always required
You may think a road has no toll
That is pure imagination
So ready your knife, the booth approaches-

I pull forward
Blade in hand
Ready to face that
Serpentine
Lord of Under

Eye to eye, his unexpectedly
Blue pair
Mirror mine
Two ancient glacier pools
Not hot or angry or conniving

His arm encased in a jean jacket sleeve
Rises to draw my attention
To the fee as indicated on the digital screen
His shoulders slightly shrug
As if it were out of his control

Lucky, he says, earlier an ocular device
Was what we needed
But yours are nice, I want you
To keep them, for now
A Shirley Temple will suffice—

That vital fluid, a vampire’s vice
The scarlet quencher, that makes your cheeks
Flush, your body warm or hot
When you’re angry, that
Carmine delight, just a pint

Extraction complete I
Drive away not too
Faint, just enough to shyly
Smile because he liked
My eyes.