Aprilia Zank writes

the Shadow

you walk in zigzag

to delude the fiend

take her by the hand

and go to the oracle

 

coin inserted

you wait

for the blue letters

to spit the ends

of your days

but the offering is deleted

and the message blank

under dimming light

the dusk wanes

into street folds

enter the Shadow

with its black collar

and the contract

in the briefcase

you gasp for the password

rip it in the irrevocable

third try

on the other side

the neon cross flickers

asymmetrically

due to burnt out tubes

Painting --  Willem de Kooning