Write about a snake; physical or metaphorical, abstract or painted, realistic or cartoonish: in poetry or prose. Is your subject akin to the great Jörmungandr or Apophis? Perhaps more humanistic and Machiavellian? Maybe just a simple garden snake on the hunt or perhaps a character in an Aesop fable? The choice is yours, write of a snake. $25 in Juice to my favourite entry.

d1ss0c14te

• 110 reads

blackout

he unhinges

his mighty jaw,

venom dripping

from his fangs

as he wraps himself

around my throat

he’s squeezing the life out of me

but i can’t seem

to feel a thing

even as he compresses

the bones in my neck

and i can feel them

crunching against each other

and grating against

my spinal cord

i relish in the pain

because i know that

i am powerless against his grip

he whispers to me,

his forked tongue

dancing delicately

against the tip of my ear,

bringing with it

the shame and doubt

that shadows me

wherever i go

those slitted eyes

stare into my own,

eerily intelligent

they’re the last thing i see

before my vision

fades to darkness

*blackout*

18

7

10

Challenge

Of a Snake | $25 of Juice

Write about a snake; physical or metaphorical, abstract or painted, realistic or cartoonish: in poetry or prose. Is your subject akin to the great Jörmungandr or Apophis? Perhaps more humanistic and Machiavellian? Maybe just a simple garden snake on the hunt or perhaps a character in an Aesop fable? The choice is yours, write of a snake. $25 in Juice to my favourite entry.

EvelynDawn

• 43 reads

M’name is Not an Insult

A snake describes a person

Who is manipulative,

but really, now,

that's frivilous,

at best,

considering humans

are the creatures

who are the easiest

to detest.

So don't call out

things that slither,

when you yourself

should be kept on a shelf

and mocked

for all you do.

7

1

0

Challenge

Of a Snake | $25 of Juice

Write about a snake; physical or metaphorical, abstract or painted, realistic or cartoonish: in poetry or prose. Is your subject akin to the great Jörmungandr or Apophis? Perhaps more humanistic and Machiavellian? Maybe just a simple garden snake on the hunt or perhaps a character in an Aesop fable? The choice is yours, write of a snake. $25 in Juice to my favourite entry.

CrowSF

• 34 reads

Quetzal-Cortés

We thought you were the god you claimed to be

willing to share with us your mastery of the arts and crafts

in ways we had never known ourselves.

We thought you were Venus

an ethereal beauty

born anew from the sea.

We thought you were deserving

of the titles we gave you

as a patron, as a master of the wind and sky,

as an ally to our rain and a brother to our ancestors.

But you just so happened to have come here

when the true Precious Twin

was to make his return on the year of the Reed.

At the very beginning,

we made fools of ourselves by offering our hands,

only to have holes bitten through them

by your venomous weapons.

We had prepared a welcoming speech,

but quickly realized that your hissing laughter

was at our "primative" dress

and not for our friendliness.

You became our awaited Boundary-Maker

but divided us

by our abilities as servants

and the color of our skin

not by the earth and heavens.

You yourself were void

of the quetzal's feathers and coatl's scales

your shell-white frame indicating danger

like that of a dart frog's own vibrance.

You took our jewels that shown

as bright as your unforgiving emerald eyes

casting death with no resurrection upon our land.

You painted our fallen stone cities with our blood,

then turned back across the ocean

to tell of our own savagery

for "blasphemous" sacrifice.

Why would a deity of ours oppose his own faith

by bringing missonaries of an unfamiliar god to us?

Why would he take away our women

when he already lusts for his own blood?

Why would he force us to adorn his vessels

in our gold and torquoise,

but set us on fire instead?

Why would he use the light

of his own blessed morning star for such conquest,

considering it all civilized

in comparison to our ways of life?

As I,

the descendant of this unnecessary abuse,

look at your country's wealth and power to this day,

I now know of how these riches crossed the sea

after our homeland was constricted

in the jaws of a merciless snake of a different kind.

6

1

3

Challenge

Of a Snake | $25 of Juice

Write about a snake; physical or metaphorical, abstract or painted, realistic or cartoonish: in poetry or prose. Is your subject akin to the great Jörmungandr or Apophis? Perhaps more humanistic and Machiavellian? Maybe just a simple garden snake on the hunt or perhaps a character in an Aesop fable? The choice is yours, write of a snake. $25 in Juice to my favourite entry.

AmericanNomad

• 23 reads

Slither

Sawtoothed scales shift in the sand.

Black diamonds ring her body in bands.

Her sinuous body coils and straightens.

Punishing the poorly-placed hand.

Cold-blooded and low.

She viciously strikes the fatal blow.

With narrowed eyes and forked tongue thrusting.

Predation is all that she knows.

Keep your eyes on the ground ahead.

Listen for the rattles, watch for the sheds.

When into the viper's domain you tread.

One off step and you'll find yourself dead.

4

0

1

Challenge

Of a Snake | $25 of Juice

Write about a snake; physical or metaphorical, abstract or painted, realistic or cartoonish: in poetry or prose. Is your subject akin to the great Jörmungandr or Apophis? Perhaps more humanistic and Machiavellian? Maybe just a simple garden snake on the hunt or perhaps a character in an Aesop fable? The choice is yours, write of a snake. $25 in Juice to my favourite entry.

hazelize

• 32 reads

The slithering of a snake

Tells everyone to be careful.

But the snake is lonely.

And hungry.

The hissing of a snake

Tells everyone it’s danger.

But the snake wants conversation.

And love.

The bite of a snake

Tells everyone their death.

But the snake wants to eat.

And survive

The night.

3

0

Challenge

Of a Snake | $25 of Juice

Write about a snake; physical or metaphorical, abstract or painted, realistic or cartoonish: in poetry or prose. Is your subject akin to the great Jörmungandr or Apophis? Perhaps more humanistic and Machiavellian? Maybe just a simple garden snake on the hunt or perhaps a character in an Aesop fable? The choice is yours, write of a snake. $25 in Juice to my favourite entry.

marks11

• 30 reads

Monsters

They are slithering, scaley, creatures that keep me up at night. They are vicious. They will kill for fun. They twist around me, squeezing me until I burst. They are monsters.

3

1

0

Challenge

Of a Snake | $25 of Juice

Write about a snake; physical or metaphorical, abstract or painted, realistic or cartoonish: in poetry or prose. Is your subject akin to the great Jörmungandr or Apophis? Perhaps more humanistic and Machiavellian? Maybe just a simple garden snake on the hunt or perhaps a character in an Aesop fable? The choice is yours, write of a snake. $25 in Juice to my favourite entry.

Nida

• 21 reads

Anaconda

I was caught in his iron claws

Struggling hard to just breathe.

But he was so strong.

So authoritative

I was helpless.

The surrounding

The environment

Everything was his tyranny

He was adamant

Sucking my life bit by bit

Half swallowed

Being dragged

I was about to lose

But then

It occurred to me

Why????

Just because I am a daughter in an Asian country

And he is my father.

No why the hell I should obey

I rebelled

Was condemned

But I am safe from my anaconda.

It's worth it

2

0

1

Challenge

Of a Snake | $25 of Juice

Write about a snake; physical or metaphorical, abstract or painted, realistic or cartoonish: in poetry or prose. Is your subject akin to the great Jörmungandr or Apophis? Perhaps more humanistic and Machiavellian? Maybe just a simple garden snake on the hunt or perhaps a character in an Aesop fable? The choice is yours, write of a snake. $25 in Juice to my favourite entry.

AriannaB

• 20 reads

Colourfully frightening

There was a small snake in my house. It was hiding behind the couch. I try to let it outside through the window in the living room, but it wouldn't go. I hate things that slither.

It moves very fast to the kitchen. I try to follow him. There is some bread baking in the oven. The snake goes inside it. I turn off the oven and carefully open it. I am astonished: several snake skins lay beside the perfectly baked loaf of bread. One is red, one is purple and the other one is blue. The snake has vanished.

I wake up.

2

0

Challenge

Of a Snake | $25 of Juice

Write about a snake; physical or metaphorical, abstract or painted, realistic or cartoonish: in poetry or prose. Is your subject akin to the great Jörmungandr or Apophis? Perhaps more humanistic and Machiavellian? Maybe just a simple garden snake on the hunt or perhaps a character in an Aesop fable? The choice is yours, write of a snake. $25 in Juice to my favourite entry.

mm42883

• 56 reads

Snake

It was there as I stood in the produce ailse, choosing between Honeycrisp and Fuji. The slithering sensation of hopelessness awakening, squirming, squeezing just a little tighter. Again, in the car. I passed a billboard along the highway, advertising a funeral home. Will I choose that one? Will I even choose, or will I let my family decide on those details once I'm gone. Some say it is better for the grieving to have something to do.

It was born (no, hatched, I guess, snakes come from eggs, right?) even before the appointment with the oncologist. Sliding silently into my brain and growing. A lost train of thought here, a forgotten name, a moment when I couldn't remember why I had walked into a room. I went to my family doctor after I couldn't think of my son's name for a full hour. His face was grim. He referred me to "the best cancer doctor in the region", and away we went.

Sometimes it is still and silent, just a heavy weight inside, sleeping between meals. Other times it is wild and angry, thrashing about, biting with venom that dissolves my memories and functioning, feasting on all that is me.

I'm doing chemo and radiation. Poisoning myself and the snake, a marathon race of survival where one will die and the other will only almost die. I find myself subconsciously touching my bald head at times. Not vanity, really, just missing my old look. The snake touches everything.

I am not winning this race. I know it. Sometimes I think the snake knows, too. Not that I'm not trying. Maybe there is another winning.

I chose Honeycrisp, by the way. Fuji is cheaper, but I love the flavor and crunch of the Honeycrisp. I don't know if I'll be able to keep it down. But damn if I'm not going to try.

2

0

1

Challenge

Of a Snake | $25 of Juice

Write about a snake; physical or metaphorical, abstract or painted, realistic or cartoonish: in poetry or prose. Is your subject akin to the great Jörmungandr or Apophis? Perhaps more humanistic and Machiavellian? Maybe just a simple garden snake on the hunt or perhaps a character in an Aesop fable? The choice is yours, write of a snake. $25 in Juice to my favourite entry.