Holly Guran

Python Show

the guide instructs us

            on weights and lengths

                        these snakes can reach thirty feet

he warns us away from the head

            don’t make sharp pokes

                        oh the lovely skin

we are obedient

            here in this

                        his place of worship

reluctant the one lost in sleep

            he handles her

                        like a lover

pulls her slowly

            she hangs over his lap

                        extends past the end of the bench

we wives rise

            move closer

                        stroke her smooth diadems

behind the bench

            waiting patiently for the shot

                        the husbands snap photos  

Bio

Holly Guran, author of Twilight Chorus, River of Bones, and the chapbooks River Tracks and Mothers' Trails, earned a Massachusetts Cultural Council award and coordinates a popular Boston reading series. Her work appeared in journals including Compassion Anthology, Mom Egg Review, Poet Lore, Poetry East, Borderlands, Worcester Review, and Salamander. Find her at poetry-holly-guran.vpweb.com.