Aught, no. 1 (1997)

Rob Faivre

Roadside Triptych

(i)

Morning fog. A snake stilled
at the roadside, head lifted

body curved and gripping
to the ground, but dead,

dead without mark of death,
save stillness. One speculates,

moving on through the fog,
past the stop sign, the trees,

the trailer with its porchlight,
the pond, the pit. One walks

and minds the snake, appearing
both dead and alive,

stalled, paralyzed, zombied.
What beyond taxidermy

to make of it? One reflects
at this point, goes back

to the snake, pokes it,
and gets no reaction,

save the passivity of flesh.

(ii)

A butterfly breaths in the dirt,
easy pumping of wings,

feelers working at a crumb
of grit. Ants and thunderheads

approach. The landlady curses
in the dooryard at her grown

daughter. The body of the snake flattens
and oxidizes, oozing a brown fluid.

Predictable, yes. here is the same
torn beer can, the same mailbox.

The surface of the pool gives
back the hillside pines. Where

is the kingfisher this afternoon?
The wild grapes darken from green

to purple, singly and in clusters.
In the sandpit, the marksmen

have rearranged their targets.
"Realistic Situation #512,"

a mustachioed man in a cap
and glasses, holding a rolled

newspaper, resembles
my friend Tom. Tom has several

splintery bullet holes in his abdomen.
They do not seem to be good shots.

(iii)

Pausing to observe the fluttering
of a downed Monarch,

one finds a beetle feasting
on the body, its busy motion

working the bright wings.
One bends in low, framing

the scene of consumption
with squared hands, separating

that action from the clutter
of gravel and broken weeds,

focusing on what transpires
within the frame, and observing

dispassionately, as one had
the crushed turtle, the pierced

locust, the frog spraypainted
by the roadcrew. Those

had been still-lifes;
this was a motion picture.

The snake is, of course, dead,
but the mouth is open

in a soundless hiss,
and it hadn't been that way before.

©1997 by Rob Faivre. All rights reserved.
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