next door they're yet holding another barbecue

starry sparks of pig and ox ascend in the dark

hot flesh, burning fuel amid the polite chatter

charred hose and doublet of brave Joan of Arc

 

beefburgers thick sausages dripping grease

immolated rump steak in the teeth of guests

witches and Jews getting lynched for threats

to the state as traitors and subversive pests

 

a smell of napalm in the morning, airborne,

jungles and children and truth alike burning

suburban chef and his apron getting drunk

spatula keeps condemned rissoles turning

 

once the nerves are burnt, no more pain

fleshy tissues contract, withered muscles,

self-immolation with the drum of paraffin

smouldering garments left a wind rustles

 

wine flowing free straying hands caressing

warm animal protein the aphrodisiac fare

abandon blazing in that haze of moonlight

at the stake complete cremation was rare

 

widows on funeral pyres and human torches

neighbours cheesed off at the greasy smell

Ku Klux Klan small fry, incidental, autos da fe,

imagine a bonfire, grand barbecue that's Hell

 

heat has scorched off subtle eye shadow

feel your toes toasting, new loafers aflame,

ripped thighs turning to smouldering steaks

tendons shrivelled, those shaved legs lame

 

pushing into their own ovens SS Guards

wearing a necklace of combustible tyres,

at the bottom of the garden they screw,

new life, pig-offal and mincemeat sires