I wasn’t always afraid of snakes. 

I thought they were cool

Mature, professional

Respect

 

They reminded me of my father when I was young,

Too little to see what they

Really meant

 

My father had one

And my brother too-

They said I 

didnt need one

 

They were for boys and 

Adults in business

Suits, skins to be 

shed at home

 

At home. Where they

Take off their suits and the

Snakes come out to bite

 

He said it only bit when 

Angry, that its snap was 

always Provoked

 

I didn’t know what 

I did wrong, why

It bit at me and snapped at 

me and cut open my

Skin, tender fruit and

juice spills over

 

I didn’t understand why the

snake loved the taste of 

blood; the iron its brother

 

I didn’t know

I don’t know

But snakes seemed to hate me, they

bit whenever I was near

 

And now I’m scared of snakes

Of coming home in the dark

Of not satisfying its 

Endless quest for perfection and

Of the cold iron bite of its head

 

I am scared of snakes

of skin and bone

That shed their scales after

A shot of

whiskey, a 

bottle of beer and

bite