SLITHER

is what a snake does, is what a glance can do
a snake is what leaves its skin upon the floor
is what sits upon a serpent-throne
a serpent is a snake, literally “a creeping thing”
from the Latin serpere: to crawl, to move slowly on, to glide

a hiss is snake-speech, is imitative
compare Danish hysse, German zischen
Samuel Johnson called it “remarkable”
how the word “cannot be pronounced
without making the noise which it signifies”

a viper, too, is a snake, is a contraction
from words meaning living and to bear, to give birth to
a viper’s flesh was thought to possess great
restorative properties––hence viper-wine, hence snake oil
which was said to heal rheumatism & gout in Georgia
and, in rural Pennsylvania, to cure deafness

in Old English, hildenædre was a figurative term
for “arrow,” literally, a war-adder
THE MOON OF THE CORPSE was a sword
THE DRIZZLE OF THE SWORD was blood
SNAKES OF THE BLOOD meant spears
DRIZZLE-SNAKES OF THE CORPSE-MOON also meant spears

THE WHALE OF THE MOUNTAINS was a snake
THE FIELD-RING was a snake
THE DARK COILING FISH OF THE HEATHER was a snake
THE GIRDLES OF THE LAND, THE BELTS OF THE GROUND, THE RED
FINE ROPE OF THE EARTH, THE SAVAGE FETTER OF THE GROVE,
THE SICKLE OF THE CAIRN all meant snake

THE OFFSPRING OF THE SERPENT was a serpent
THE SERPENT’S BROTHER, too, is a snake

A. R. Zarif is from Chicago. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Poetry Magazine, The Iowa Review, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Bennington Review, Chicago Review, The Margins, and other publications. He currently lives in Virginia, where he is a PhD candidate.