One thing’s sure,
people seldom see a snake but stop to watch
for several seconds as it
angles off into the underbrush, like
an arrow that barely missed.
Mostly this is misperception.
Snakes try to stay out of our way.
But we want portents.
And so on August evenings
when the air is calm,
a moccasin or a banded water snake
will cross the lake
the only way it can as we
count loose omegas
on the mirrored surface,
mouth a prayer
until it disappears.
Bruce McCandless is a writer and attorney who lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and two daughters. McCandless has published poems, articles, and features in a number of journals and magazines, including The Asian Wall Street Journal, Avenue, HK Magazine, Cold Mountain Review, Pleiades, Louisiana Literature, the Texas Observer, The Austin Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman. When not writing, McCandless is probably out riding a bike or hiking along Austin’s Barton Creek.
