Incantation (Avian/Reptilian)

by Lisa Zerkle

​Once I watched a snake encircle
the post of a picnic shelter,
spiraling towards a wren’s nest tucked under
the eave, not dissuaded by the shrieking
pair of swooping decoys or their frenetic
flailing as it breached their haven
atop the post, plenty of time
to consider how it would allow
each egg into its mouth, how each would shatter
into tasty slurry of slime and shell,
those brood-warm ovals cradled
in beak-woven straw, how—no rush--
it would swallow all but
only one by one.

Lisa Zerkle’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Quartet, Heavy Feather Review, The Collagist, Nimrod, storySouth, among others. She was the creator and curator of 4X4CLT, a public art and poetry series for Charlotte Lit. In January 2023, she was awarded an MFA in Poetry from Warren Wilson College. She lives with her husband and a 100 pound slobbery bulldog named Ozzie. Follow her on Instagram @hag_lore