10/30 2015

(8.) BARBATOS.--The Eighth Spirit is Barbatos. He is a Great Duke, and appeareth when the Sun is in Sagittary, with four noble Kings and their companies of great troops. He giveth understanding of the singing of Birds, and of the Voices of other creatures, such as the barking of Dogs. He breaketh the Hidden Treasures open that have been laid by the Enchantments of Magicians. He is of the Order of Virtues, of which some part he retaineth still; and he knoweth all things Past, and to come, and conciliateth Friends and those that be in Power. He ruleth over 30 Legions of Spirits. His Seal of Obedience is this, the which wear before thee as aforesaid.

““What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”

When the warble fly or Hypoderma lays its eggs

the host animals tongue scoops up the gestating larvae

they travel through the stomach

and rise, to the surface

they leave, in their wake a substance called

“butcher's jelly”

and the larvae poke breathing holes

through the skin.

The Cymothoa exigua crawls inside the fishes mouth

extracting blood from the tongue

till it withers then it replaces the tongue,

and lives, in its place

in the fishes mouth.

acts as surrogate

living on blood and the fish's meals.

shitting it's own blood

into the dark hall of the fish's throat

Ophiocordyceps unilateralis

a fungus, takes over the ant's brain

and drives it up into the canopy,

till it clings to a leaf, and dies

and a fruiting body bursts through the head.

to be eaten by birds

In response, ant colonies have evolved

some sense of the possessed,

carry it far from the city

that no other is inspected with this spore

allow it to climb and die alone.

Toxoplasma gondi,

present in the shit of cats

in the brain of rats

makes them bolder, madder

more inclined to be eaten

less afraid of the smell of cat piss

crazed, inspired, schizophrenic

the god lives in the animal

brought before the horned altar

in the butterflies and blood and ergot-black bread

and the god is death

toxoplasmi gondii lives in the brains of men

they are filled with god

until they cannot hold him anymore

the birds tell them the secret name

till the dogs speak affably, seductively

and the flies sing hosannas

Birds sing blenders,

sing cellphone

sing bad starter in a 67 Malibu

sing grocery store checkout laser

sing shotgun

Dogs howl down the moon.