the snakes are ravenous

i watch them swallow a neighbor dog 
& then a trophy & then a school bus tire.
i tug my father's sleeve & tell him
to watch this video of 
a snake devouring a lizard.
we try to snake-proof the house 
with rock music & sad poetry.
dad gets on his knees & peers
at the houses's nonesense spaces.
in one hole in the wall he glimpses
a little video of me as a girl
eating a gummmy snake. 
in another crack he finds
himself as a child dancing with snakes.
ours is a history of this particular repitle
swelling larger & larger in our minds
until now when there's nothing 
we can think of but snakes.
over dinner we say
did you see the snake do this? &
are you afraid 
of the snakes doing that?
in the morning we get up & check
our blankets for snakes 
& our skin for snake bites. 
when i was younger i used to want
to keep them as pets. my father 
encouraged this danger. he bought 
a calliope of jars to house 
said monsters. he taught me
how to lure mice from the fields
to feed future snakes. we were two 
reptile yearners. separately
we both wanted to lose our limbs 
& belly slither into coves
where only snakes can fit. 
out there in the world a snake
is a collaping adjent. they bite
the ankles of joggers & tie knots
around television faces. they ache
like only a needy heart can. 
preparing for love's dangerous
can often take the place of loving.
we found no snakes in the house
& we know we never will.
the searching is the exact addiction
we need. in the trees, snakes are
learning from birds. in the water
snakes are coaxing stories from 
giant squid. it is only a matter of time
before they tell us finally
what we should be doing with our hands.
before one enters the house 
& eats the family from our bones.
my father works in the basement
on a giant wooden snake. i work 
in my bedroom on a snake
made of nothing but need for 
more escapes. i watch a video online
of a giant snake slowly devouring 
larger & larger animals. lizard.
hawk. dog. cat. human. house.
street. siren. radio tower.
there's a theory 
we could already be inside a snake.
i open a window just to hear
the soft snake sounds below.
rustle of a moon. wire fence clink.
a snake is on its way.