Green and Golden

I was warned more about rattlesnakes
than anything I actually lived with

(they rarely bite)

so I memorized the diagram
imagined running, knew intimately

the gruesome belt snap before leather hit my skin

couldn’t stop who could

welt me

and, oh, that?
that’s just a pit viper, spell it, venom, spill it —

look,
we played in alleys and it was good, clean fun and

sure,
someone had a yard (affection, branches, not mine)

with a wooden swing but I got so scared up there
I accidently pissed on it

(dishonor, dismay)
no wonder

I’m back counting empties
lining them up for the boys to bowl

(tarmac, blacktop, lonesome)