Florida’s venomous snakes:
Her mother gave her a marker to put
Name & birthdate on her torso
She promised swore they'd be all right
Today is not all right She’s not okay
Her mother’s missing ghostly gone
In a glass she stares at ink-black ink
Backwards & snake-less
Remembers how stupid it seemed
Where is she now this day when she
Has not seen even one killer snake
Who is she now and who can she be
Susan Terris is a freelance editor and the author of 8 books of poetry, 17 chapbooks, 3 artist's books, 2 plays. Journals include The Southern Review, Georgia Review,Prairie Schooner, Rattle, Blackbird, Swwim, and Ploughshares. Poems of hers have appeared in Pushcart Prize and Best American Poetry. Spring 2024, her eighth poetry book Green Leaves, Unseeing was published by Marsh Hawk Press, May 2024. Ms. Terris is editor emerita of Spillway & an editor at Pedestal.
