A Note for Johnny Coral Hull
Spacer
Spacer

“Snake”

“there was a story” “through the mountains” “of a
serpent” “who had passed there” “dragging them” “into
being” “this was the low table ranges” “of Rylstone”
“Kandos” “the serpent’s tail” “had merely touched these

stones” “had slashed them” “to the side” “with a dim
flicker” “how many lives” ” have I lived through?” “is
this just another one?” “its fleeting” “barely creating” “a
ripple” “like wheels along gravel” “that never leave”

“the edges” “this is just one” “of many properties and
scenes” “I’m tired” “and yet” “here” “I loved you” “but
for how long?” “how?” “are you prepared?” “to spend”
the rest of your life here?” “with the property

inhabitants?” “this place” “inhabits itself” “seems to
ask” “nothing more” “than its perpetual change” “its
stories” “it lives” “fully inside” “all its moments” “is
still enough to register” “to graze and glide” “and it’s

sleep” “as gentle as a calf” “it’s growing horns” “all the
way up” “in the back paddock” “it’s fearless” “as it lives
and dies” “all over the place” “how must I learn from
it?” “without galloping away” “into the sky?” “what can

the mountain say now?” “it is strange” “how oddly
trapped” “one can feel” “even in the wind” “and rain” “it
is odd” “to feel” “trapped” “when looking” “at distance”
“or into the eyes” “of your loved ones” “even if” “I was

a bird” “there is only” “so much terrain” “I could
navigate” “before I landed” “trapped” “by my own
exhaustion” “my heartbeat” “inside” “the small
feathered breasts” “there is always” “a new landscape”

“beyond this” “I go to it” “have you ever walked” “to the
mountain?” “over there” “that giant rock” “passed by the
snake” ’last night?” “no” “that is a long way off” “it’s
five kilometers away” “why must I see this” “as another

brief experience” “rather than living in the present?” “I
have lived” “a lifetime” “in every experience” “release
me” “from your memory”

Spacer
Spacer
CoverPrevious PoemNext Poem 2River