Image by Steve Adcock from Pixabay
We were young & cruel
& the tractor cleared
a pathway like a gash
to the other trailer home
across a wall of brush
& barbed wire rusted over
like burnt ribs.
We passed a rattler in the rubble
of the dirt & trees & snapped
into centurions lobbing rocks at it—
Once the deed was done
we slapped ourselves
on the back like good kids,
lugged the snake home, kin
riddled oozing out of the womb.
We laid up the serpent
on the porch, shocked at the
body-bruised shine & saw
the cheap iridescence of oil—
Andrew Rader Hanson is writer and poet living in South Florida and his work has been featured in Clackamas Review, Voices de la Luna, Spectrum Literary Journal, and more.
JMWW 