ven though
there was fresh snow on the ground,
there were still Halloween decorations
up around the joint.
from each porch post.
Along the fence
plastic lights
little skulls
rattled
and chattered
clickety-clack
against the railing.
The Hut
had long jagged icicles
crystal bones
Yaga teeth
hanging from its rafters.
It grinned ferociously at anyone who dared approach!
Weirdest of all:
the dwelling
suddenly stood up
and whirled
like a Dervish
on chicken’s feet!
(It gave her the heebiejeebies.)
No basement?
A mobile home?
Perhaps.
and looked up into the night sky
there
flying
there she saw it
the silhouette
of Baba Yaga
descending
in her mortar
with a pestle
...in her black cauldron.
Her creepy cuisinart
coming in for a landing.
With greasy hair streaming behind her,
the hag trailed a broom
like a giant eraser
for deleting her own tracks.
She screeched into her parking place
and dismounted with a slam.
She was in no mood for distractions.
Baba Yaga
just stood there
with her hands on her hips
in the strange glow of the skulls
and Vasalisa took in
this shocking composite
this awful specter
of a woman:
Part grandmother
Part beast
was a bony thing.
Her look,
like the witch
in your own worst horror movie:
that nose you know
that chin you’re imagining
those teeth like pinking shears
And that wart that belongs in a museum!
Baba Yaga’s breasts sagged
like water balloons,
(to her knees no doubt)
And those legs!
one all bone with spidery veins
and the other...
lumpy and brown,
made out of excrement.
Excrement?
(that’s what it says.)
Baba Yaga stopped
and sniffed at the air.
She clapped her hands
muttered
some code
some password
under her breath
And the hut rotated upon command,
opening its entrance
automatically
like a garage door.
do
YOU
want?”