Mojave Rattler; ‘Til he’s had his fill

by | Apr 5, 2022 | Issue Twenty Six, Poetry

Mojave Rattler

You remind me of
an animated mouse
singing to the moon

he charm-coiled in
our onset. i doubt

even a rattleboned
mojave rattler

would strike

such heartsore soft.

at first i believed
the blurry vision

weakened breathing
was stemming from

july nevada heat. but venom’s
seep strews tar slow and then

you’re swallowed whole. before
you know you’re slipping down

his oil forked tongue,

putty snared
in badlands.

Til he’s had his fill

—after Lucinda Williams

Oak homestead dream is
smithereens, shot by my
broad battalioned love

and — I’m shivering — in
winter moonveiled Gainesville.

He lied, barbed pretty
I believed. spread radiant

on sky blue sheets and
sloppily unbarred my warm

steel-armored rain while drinking
plain his numb, love-lethal whiskey.

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