EXCERPT

SNAKE QUESTIONS

Indigo snakes trace the sand hills and shady creeks,

their bodies, runes, calligraphy,

slender s’s, sinuate o’s, their message—so, so,

    in this manner, in order that, with this result.

Always the snake lending advice.

Always the snake asking questions, So what is next?

I love each blue-black scale, all seven feet,

eleven pounds of iridescent beauty

coiled around the bin,

peaceful, basking as I skate by.

Born to curve, born with pit organs between their eyes—

snakes can see heat, smell with their tongues,

shed their skin, the whole of it.

I will need this when my skin burns post-op,

welts crawl up my spine, my belly pink.

In pain, I will beseech, Serpent,

how can I be ok, leaving my cells behind?

How can I discard and start over?

Turn the air around. Transmogrify.

My metal hip makes me

curve again and changes

my taste buds. I crave iron —spinach, celery

     and meat. My fangs bite, clamp and I swallow.

I am right now. Ouroboros. I am always.

Drymarchon couperi, Colubridae,

Deep down inside, every cell
disconnecting

rub against bark, scratch against rock
get wet and find a place to hide

 push, push out, through the skin

sshh… there-there now… there, there

ABOUT THE POET

Michelle Seaman’s poems appear in Swamp Ape Review, Rogue Agent, Entropy, Urban Tree Festival, Two Hawks Quarterly, and 3Elements Literary Review. She performs and records poetry in collaboration with musical projects, The Dwindlers and Half Wild, and her work has been recognized by fellow nature writers at the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference. Michelle has a Bachelor’s degree in Secondary English Education and a Master’s in Interdisciplinary Art. She loves to ride her bike and wander in the woods. 

ABOUT THE COVER

The cover is a collage made from an x-ray supplied by the poet & a vintage magnolia print from the Library of Congress. Cover artist is Nicci Mechler.

FIRST APPEARANCES

Poems in this chapbook first appeared in: Entropy, Rogue Agent, Swamp Ape Review, Urban Tree Festival.