Challenge
Of a Snake | $25 of Juice
Write about a snake; physical or metaphorical, abstract or painted, realistic or cartoonish: in poetry or prose. Is your subject akin to the great Jörmungandr or Apophis? Perhaps more humanistic and Machiavellian? Maybe just a simple garden snake on the hunt or perhaps a character in an Aesop fable? The choice is yours, write of a snake. $25 in Juice to my favourite entry.
blackout
he unhinges
his mighty jaw,
venom dripping
from his fangs
as he wraps himself
around my throat
he’s squeezing the life out of me
but i can’t seem
to feel a thing
even as he compresses
the bones in my neck
and i can feel them
crunching against each other
and grating against
my spinal cord
i relish in the pain
because i know that
i am powerless against his grip
he whispers to me,
his forked tongue
dancing delicately
against the tip of my ear,
bringing with it
the shame and doubt
that shadows me
wherever i go
those slitted eyes
stare into my own,
eerily intelligent
they’re the last thing i see
before my vision
fades to darkness
*blackout*
18
7
10