Rat Snake

We were just talking about you crooked tunnel

the way you funnel your long freight up the walnut tree serpent

& glide out along one diminishing limb until you reach the roof drop into the gutter & loop into a squirrel hole above the kitchen

We’d just found one of your old skins snagged on a thorn I don’t think he’s coming back for it I joked

And my neighbor glances up into the tree & says Well there he is now

And there you were son of a bitch still & heavy as a tongue with bad news

waiting for a signal neither of us caught to set you back into motion into path into limbless dragon flicking your soft Y of flame