Snake Dream

In my dream last night I noticed

A python across our front gate. 

There was a little pool there 

(There isn’t) 

And in the water 

near the children 

I saw the glinty movement of something shiny. 

I told the kids to move away 

And they did

But I couldn’t find you

And I was afraid to lose sight of the snake. 

I stuck my hands into the water. 

I remember thinking my mother was brave, 

The way she stuck her hands 

into the bowl of raw meat, 

mixing up meatloaf for dinner. 

Brave, sticking her hand in the gross, 

backed up sink to clear the garbage disposal. 

Brave, tending to my sick younger siblings, 

Washing soiled things 

I would not have touched. 

And me, here, 

without you,

Dragging a twenty-foot python 

from the mucky water 

by our front gate.