Monday, April 23, 2012

Snake Eater



image borrowed from bing

Snake Eater
Prickly sweat cascading 
beneath his kevlar, 
willing his hands not to tremble, 
thick black smudges
beneath his piercing eyes,
copper-tasting saliva sifting
through his clenched teeth,
preparing to lurch 
from blackout shadow
to bright jungle clearing, 
his two sharp knives trained 
to skewer, to sever membranes,
to behead his scaly adversaries--
and as he leaped out 
to do the cobra dance,
he marveled at how the trees 
looked like mad asparagus 
just before he waded
into the ritual slaughter. 
Glenn Buttkus
April 2012

Posted over on Monday Melting 14

Would you like to hear the author read this poem to you?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so crazy about this poem, Glenn!!! You are a madman, and I dig it. :)

"his two sharp knives trained
to skewer" ... Perfect.

Love that cobra dance.

"Mad asparagus" is the phrase of the day, though.

rosemarymint.wordpress.com

Maude Lynn said...

Oh, well done! I'm digging the "mad asparagus," too.

Hannah said...

WOW!! I'm impressed, you really meshed these words in perfectly what a vivid scene you've created! Enjoyed!

Anonymous said...

This was awesome your imagination to turn these words into this story, demands a bravo.
http://leah-jamielynn.typepad.com/blog/2012/04/its-true.html

Brian Miller said...

ha. i know snake...smiles...i like...the only part that got me a bit...well tickled...was him jumping out to do the cobra dance...i got this picture in my head of Adam West's Bat Dance as batman that just would not go away...campy i know...

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you linked this one; it's so good. You don't seem to be writing quite as much lately. Everything okay? I always love your work.

rosemarymint.wordpress.com

Glenn Buttkus said...

Just busy, Rosemary; but I still manage to write 3-5 poems per week; quit a lot for an old poet.

Victoria said...

Wow, Glenn. Strong imagery in this one.

Ginny said...

I like the thought of "mad asparagus"; the word list conjured snakes for me too. Great piece.

cronk said...

Another wonderful job with the prompt. I, too, loved the way you used asparagus, as well as your excellent description of this world.