Kenton K. Yee: “Snakes, Crocs, and Puffer Fish”
SNAKES, CROCS, AND PUFFER FISH
Men of literature, Keats sd, reach
for beauty over other considerations.
Uncertainty, Simic sd, is the undergrowth
abutting our diverging road. Catching beauty
requires we walk off road
into the brambles, wade quicksand,
try berries, mushrooms and,
when we come to a riverbank,
conquer fears infused by childhood tales
of snakes, crocs, and puffers,
cast a line and eat the bulgy dumplings
reeled in until we’re good and sleepy
and dream we’re waking up
only to find our pillows missing.
Kenton K. Yee’s recent poems appear (or will soon appear) in Plume Poetry, The Threepenny Review, TAB Journal, BoomerLitMag, Sugar House Review, Terrain.org, Rattle, Constellations, South Carolina Review, Lily Poetry Review, and Cutthroat, among others.