October--Snake

I hate the snake
I hate the snake
I hate the way it trails and writhes
And slithers on its belly in the dirty dirt and creeps
I hate the snake
I hate its beady eye that never sleeps

I love the snake
I love the snake
I love the way it pours and glides
And esses through the desert and loops necklaces on trees
I love the snake
Its zigs and zags, its ins and outs, its ease.

I hate the snake
I hate the snake
I hate its flickering liquorice tongue
Its hide and sneak, its hissiness, its picnic-wrecking spite
I hate its yawn
Its needle fangs, their glitter and their bite.

I love the snake
I love the snake
I love its coiled elastic names
Just listen to them: hamadryad, bandy-bandy, ladder,
Sidewinder, asp
And moccasin and fer de lance and adder

And cascabel
And copperhead
Green mamba, coachwhip, indigo,
So keep your fluffy kittens and your puppy-dogs,
I'll take
The boomslang and
The anaconda. Oh, I love the snake!

by Richard Edwards


October is one of the months when I take the ferry to Galiano Island and go camping at a private waterfront property that a family friend owns. On this property, there are many wild garter snakes. Garter snakes are a commonly-found snake in North America, and are the only species of snake that can be found in Alaska. They eat almost all small creatures that they are capable of overpowering, and generally do not bite people, although they are found to be very mildly venomous. Every summer and up until the weather gets colder in November, I go on a snake hunt and keep a lookout for any garter snakes as they are very interesting to watch when hunting, eating, or even just slithering around in the grass.
This is an opinion poem. Lines 4 and 6 of every stanza rhyme. With exception to the last one, every stanza begins with two lines of "I hate the snake" or "I love the snake" followed by "I hate/love" and a reason for the hate or love that is expressed towards the snake.
The constant change in feelings towards snakes in this poem relates to how I feel about many things. There are days where I will feel a certain way about things and then there are also days where I feel the opposite of how I felt before. Although I generally like snakes, the symbol of snake represents all of the things that my feelings change towards. The use of the snake also represents animals or people who are misunderstood, which is partly why there are mixed feelings towards them.