~
Kinship
Like me, the gopher snake prefers the south
facing base of rocks to rest. I admire his cool
flatness, spread along the ground like a myth
of transformation, the stick that’s not a stick.
I nearly tread on him until his jacquard pattern
lifts in the light and stops my foot. Length tangled
in the dead stalks of grass, tail in shadow, his head
glows with internal light like a lantern. I want
to fall on my knees and meet those golden eyes.
His face reminds me of my mother’s late in life,
near her death, with its translucence and unerring gaze.
There’s a stillness in the way he moves to suggest
something empty, nothing here to see. Just jeweled,
intricate skin, and coolness in the shape of waiting.
~
Subhaga Crystal Bacon the author of two volumes of poetry, Blue Hunger, 2020 from Methow Press, and Elegy with a Glass of Whisky, BOA Editions, 2004. A cis-gender, Queer identified woman, she lives, writes, and teaches on the east slope of the North Cascade Mountains in Twisp, WA. Her recent work appears in the Bombay Review, the River Heron Review, Humana Obscura, and Plum Recruit. Read more of her work on her website www.subhagacrystalbacon.com.