"The Rattlesnake's Bride" Ross Balcom, Frequent Contributor

The Rattlesnake's Bride

Ross Balcom

1.

The park festered

in the hills.

Gnarled oaks

grew in profusion, old

and feigning wisdom.

Rattlesnakes lurked

like sex predators.

People moved

through sunlight and shadow,

animated by ancient drives.

There was an animal current,

an electricity.

It was a place

of consummations,

of rapes.

2.

Remember when

the pastor cracked

and took you there?

He made you strip naked

at knife-point.

It was night.

You shivered

and wanted to scream.

Your teenage "identity crisis"

dissolved.

You knew who you were.

As he reached for you,

you knew.

You were

the rattlesnake's bride.

Poet's Notes: There is a local (Orange County, California) park that has an abundance of rattlesnakes and a rather unpleasant atmosphere. I wrote this poem after walking the park one afternoon. (Yes, I did see a rattlesnake. It was right in the middle of the walking trail, eating a rodent. Yikes.)