Mother
Your greatest gift to me
was the opportunity
to escape your
constant indifference…
I can only imagine
my arrival
when I slithered
out of your womb
into a cold room.
Surely,
at that very first look
into your eyes
I saw nothing -
a great abyss
a place without
love or affection.
Yet I was seduced
and drawn to seek
something instinctual that must
have existed within
everyone.
What was it
that kept me looking
for something
anything to appear
behind those eyes?
One day I let down my guard.
I let my hand rest within striking distance.
At your touch, I recoiled-
before the thought
could form
Your face
became that of the rattlesnake.
I still visit the Serpentarium
I still stare
and stare at this snake and that snake...
as if enchanted.
Behind the glass
Your tongue flickers
tasting the space between us.
My hand rests
against the glass
tracing your movements
safe from your fangs
or any poison you might spit