![\"By](\"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/640px-Eight_snakes_including_a_reticulated_python_a_slow_worm_a_Wellcome_V0022736.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Slithering through the dark
\nbowels of the city in storm drains
\nwhere sewers often overflow,
\nthe parthenogenic progeny
\nfrom an escaped pet python
\nsurvive on rats, unwary
\ncity workers, and the odd
\nmiscreant fleeing the law,
\npressing the last breaths
\nfrom their trapped bodies.
\nNightmares beyond reason,
\nthey inhabit and haunt
\nthese dank concrete
\nand steel caverns.<\/p>\n
Some claim that through
\ngenerations born and surviving
\nin the fetid dark, they have bred
\nto albino pythons capable
\nof mesmerizing their prey
\nwith\u00c2\u00a0a single glance of
\ntheir\u00c2\u00a0lustrous purblind eyes.<\/p>\n
Others say there will come
\na day when they will emerge
\nfrom the bitter depths below,
\nfrom storm drains and manholes
\nand along the banks of the river.
\nShunning the harsh light of day
\nthey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll come in dead of night,
\npale specters from hellish depths
\ndevouring sinners in their beds.<\/p>\n
Then there are those who
\ntell the story of a little girl,
\nseen after midnight, walking
\nbarefoot through the dark
\nasphalt streets of the city,
\nwearing torn yellow pajamas
\nsplattered with blood and
\na young python twined
\naround her neck, a living,
\nbreathing ophidian necklace.
\nShe is the ghost of the city\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s
\ncorruption made manifest,
\na perverse little demon
\nwith sharp young teeth.<\/p>\n
They say it’s her, with her
\nflaming hair, who leaves
\na phosphorescent red trail
\nbehind her, who was the
\nfirst to be dropped into
\nthe sewers, the first to
\nhave seen a nest of pythons,
\nto heat it with her human cells.<\/p>\n
In revenge against those who
\nleft her to a watery grave,
\nshe has given to the snakes
\nan advanced intelligence,
\na key to the weaknesses
\nof the Lords of the Earth
\nwho walk on two legs.<\/p>\n
If you meet her when
\nyou’re alone after midnight
\nand your own path turns
\na phosphorescent red,
\ngrasp a silver crucifix,
\npray to your failed gods
\nfor salvation, take off
\nyour shoes and run away.<\/p>\n
They call her Anja The Red,
\nthis ghostly witness who
\nwarns that beneath your feet
\nwhere your worst fears
\nand obsessions fester,
\na growing reptilian city thrives,
\nwaiting to embrace you
\nwith its slick relentless coils.<\/p>\n
Slithering through the dark bowels of the city in storm drains where sewers often overflow, the parthenogenic progeny from an escaped pet python survive on rats, unwary city workers, and the odd miscreant fleeing the law, pressing the last breaths from their trapped bodies. Nightmares beyond reason, they inhabit and haunt these dank concrete and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1069"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1083,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069\/revisions\/1083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}