 Between me and the clothesline--
a bull snake whose blotches blend with wet dirt and dead leaves. No hiss or fake rattlesnake coil, still-- silly me--I shield myself with a plastic laundry basket. Last summer, I was enthralled by a bull snake in my apple tree. Disguised by the mottled bark, it stretched toward a robin’s nest, and, yes, I couldn’t help but wonder what the heck Eve was thinking. The year before, a pair mated near the garage door, and so much for rural advice, “They eat rats. They eat mice.” I said it twice before the urge took hold to hack them with a rake. Instead, I yelled, “Go get a room at the bullsnake motel!” Even now, there’s an image I cannot erase of the hapless snakes who tainted my space. “And swelled with thoughts/presumptuous…” from The Persians by Aeschylus Some say we, too, in the hands of a whack-the-water man. Ooooops! Did I open a whoop-ass worm can? Ew! Speaking of dog food, Baxter Boo dog clothes online Unicorn Fufu Tutu Iridescent Doggie Dress Rainbow Sequins for only fifty ninety-nine, comes in red, blue and purple, too. Psst! I’m selling Betsy Ross dental floss for real teeth and fake teeth, yessiree. You’re all crazy except me, me, me  |
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AuthorNancy Harris McLelland taught creative writing, composition, and literature for over twenty years and Conducted writing workshops for the Western Folklife Center, Great Basin College , and the Great Basin Writing Project . An Elko County native with a background in ranching. McLelland has presented her "Poems from Tuscarora" Both at daytime and evening events at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko. Her essay, "Border Lands: Cowboy Poetry and the Literary Canon" is in the anthology Cowboy Poetry Matters . Categories |
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